
i 



LIVEEPOOL IN 1859 



PORT & TOWN OF LIVERPOOL, 

AND THE 

HARBOUR, DOCKS, 

AND 

COMMERCE OF THE MERSEY, 

IN 

1859. 

EMBELLISHED WITH A PLAN, 

From the Survey of 1857, showing the Docks and Harbours of Liverpool 

and Birkenhead, and the Soundings of the Mersey, from 

its Entrance to the Sloyne. 

/ 

BY THOMAS BAINES, 

Secretary of the Liverpool Office, and Author of the 
" History of Liverpool." 



LONDON: LONGMAN & CO. 

LIVERPOOL: BENSON & MALLETT. 

MANCHESTER: GEORGE SIMMS. 

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 

1859. 

[entered at stationers' hall.] 
L * 



! 






^•2-5^ 



o^ 



^/£ 



TO THE 

MEKSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD; 

THE 

CORPORATION OF LIVERPOOL ; 

.Or AND THE 

COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE PORT; 

THE ACCOMPANYING SKETCH OF THE 

COMMERCE, SHIPPING, PUBLIC WORKS, AND PUBLIC 

INSTITUTIONS OF LIVERPOOL, 

IS INSCRD3ED, 

BY THEIR OBLIGED FRIEND AND SERVANT, 

*t 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The object of this work is to bring together, in a 
moderate compass, and to arrange in a form easy 
of reference, an account of the principal facts, 
which explain and illustrate the present condition 
of the port of Liverpool, of its Shipping and Com- 
merce, and of the Docks and Harbour of the river 
Mersey. These are at once the seat and the 
instruments of a commerce extending to every 
country on the face of the globe, and involving 
transactions amounting to upwards of one hundred 
millions sterling, in yearly value. The information 
contained in this work has been collected carefully, 
from a variety of sources, local and national, and 
has been compiled, and is now published, in the 
hope, that it may not only serve to show what has 
been done, and is at present doing, in the port of 
Liverpool, but may also assist in forming a correct 
judgment, as to the best mode of promoting the 
future prosperity, both of the port, and of the 
numerous and varied interests, connected with it. 



Page. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAKT I. 

THE TOWN AND PORT OF LIVERPOOL. 

Commercial Importance, and Position in Comparison with 

other Ports of the Kingdom 3 

Population of Town and Suburbs in 1851, and at Present Time 4 

Portions of the Population Engaged in Commerce and Navi- 
gation, and in other Pursuits 4-7 

Spread of the Population of late years, over the Shores of 

the Mersey and in the Surrounding Villages 7-8 

The Property and Income of Liverpool, according to the last 

Eeturns laid before Parliament 8 

Registered Shipping of Liverpool larger than that of any other 

British Port 9 

THE COMMERCE OF LIVERPOOL. 

Its immense Extent and Value 11 

The Exports of Liverpool in comparison with those of other 

Ports ...... 12 

The Imports of Liverpool, their Nature, Extent, and Variety... 13 
Tonnage of Sailing Vessels which paid Dock Dues from 1851 to 

1858 14 

Tonnage of Steam Vessels, ditto 15 

Increase of Shipping in the Mersey 15 

Amount of Tonnage Paying Dock Dues in the Mersey from 16 

1854 to 1858 . 

The Number of Vessels from and to each Country entering 

and leaving the Port 17-18 

Nature and Extent of the Cargoes of Liverpool Ships 18 

Great Extent of the Emigrant and Passenger Trade of Liverpool 2 1 

Rise of Australian Emigration at Liverpool 24 

List of Vessels cleared from Liverpool for Australia, with 

Emigrants and Passengers, in 1858 25 



Vlll. 



THE STEAM NAVIGATION OF LIVERPOOL. 

Page. 
Its rapid Growth and great Extent 27 

The Steam Trade with the Coasts of England, Scotland, and 

Wales 29 

The Steam Trade with Ireland 31 

The Steam Trade with the Continent of Europe, the Mediter- 
ranean, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea 33 

The Steam Trade with the West Coast of Africa ... 34 

The Steam Trade with the United States and British America 35 

The Steam Trade with the Pacific Ocean and the West Coast of 

South America 36 

The Steam Trade with Australia 38 

Summary of the Steam Trade of Liverpool with different 

Countries, and the Amount of Tonnage employed in each 38 

Number, Tonnage, and Nationality of the Ships which sailed 

from the Port of Liverpool in 1858... 39 

THE COMMERCE OF LIVERPOOL WITH DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 42 

The Trade with the United States, its vast Extent, and its 

Progress from 1842 to 1858, according to the Dock Returns 43 

The Trade with India and China, its great Extent and rapid 

Progress during the same period ... 45 

The Trade with the Countries on the Shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea ; its rapid Progress 
since the Introduction of Steam Navigation ; its Progress 
since 1842 47 

The Trade with British America and Newfoundland ; its Extent 

and Progress 48 

The Trade with the Countries of Europe from the Baltic to the 

Mediterranean ; its great Extent aud rapid Increase 48 

The Trade with the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico ; its 

Extent and Growth 49 

The Trade with Brazil and the River Plate; its Extent and 

Progress 50 

The Trade with the West Coast of America ; its rapid Growth 51 

The Trade with the West Coast of Africa ; its Nature and 

Progress 52 

The Trade with Australia and New Zealand ; its extraordinary 

Progress since 1852 52 



IX. 

Page. 
The Trade with the Baltic ; its great Extent ; the Influence of 

the War with Russia 53 

The Coasting Trade ; its Extent and Progress 54 

Progress and Prospects of all the above Branches of Trade 55 

THE IMPORT AND EXPORT TRADE OF LIVERPOOL. 

The Aggregate Value upwards of £100,000,000 a year 56 

Table of Imports 57 

Table of Exports from Liverpool ; their Nature and Value... 60 

The Cotton Trade ; its unrivalled Extent and Value 61 

Its Value to the Port of Liverpool 62 

The Progress of Cotton Cultivation in the United States, 

British India, Brazil, Egypt, and West Indies 63 

Quantity of Cotton Imported into the United Kingdom and 

into Liverpool 66 

The Wool Trade ; its rapid Growth in Australia, and its 

Progress in Liverpool 66 

The Corn Trade of Liverpool; its Origin and great Extent ... 66 

The Timber Trade 67 

The Imports of Gold from Australia and America 67 

LINES OF RAILWAY AND CANAL COMMUNICATION FROM THE 

RIVER MERSEY TO THE PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND 

DISTRICTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 

The great Lines of Communication from Liverpool to the 

Interior 67 

The London and North-western, the Great Western, the Great 
Northern, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the East Lan- 
cashire, the Garston and St. Helens, and the Birkenhead, 
Cheshire and Lancashire Railways 68 

The Mersey and Irwell, and the Weaver Navigations; the 
Bridgewater, Sankey, and St. Helens, Leeds and Liverpool, 
Trent and Mersey, and Cheshire Canals 69 

The Connection of the Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the East 
Lancashire Railways, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal 
with the Northern Docks 71 

The Connection of those Lines with Wigan, Preston, Lancaster, 
Kendal, Carlisle, Scotland, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Blackburn, 
Burnley, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, 
Wakefield, and Hull 71 



X. 



Page. 



The Connection of the London and Northwestern Railway, the 
Bridgewater Canal, and the Ellesmere Canal with the 
Canal Docks 72 

The Connection of those Lines with Manchester, Staffordshire, 

Birmingham, and London 73 

The great Revenue yielded by these lines of Railway and Canal 73 

The Great Northern ; Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire ; 
and Warrington, Stockport, Garston, and St. Helens Lines ; 
their Plan of Extension to the Southern Docks 73 

The Docks of the Garston and St. Helens Line 74 

The Birkenhead, Cheshire, and Lancashire Railway; its Con- 
nection with the Birkenhead Docks and with the Trade of 
Chester, Warrington, Manchester, and Stockport 75 

The Great Western Railway; its Connection with the Birken- 
head Docks, and its communication with the Central and 
Western Districts of England, and with North and South 
Wales 75 

The Goods Station of the Great Western, the London and 
North-western, and the Birkenhead, Lancashire and 
Cheshire Lines, on the South Reserve, at Birkenhead ... 75 

THE WAEEHOUSES OF LIVERPOOL. 

Their Extent, Management, and Value... 76 

REPRESENTATION OF LIVERPOOL. 

The Number of Parliamentary Voters on the Registers of 

1856—57—58—59 78 

Present Representatives 79 

THE MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD. 

Constitution of the Board ... 79 

Number of Dock Ratepayers on Register in 1859 ... 79 

List of Members of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, 

elected January, 1859 ... 80 

Departments and Committees of the Mersey Docks and Har- 
bour Board... 81 

Officers of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board ... 81 

Revenue and Estate of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, 

according to the last Financial Statement 82 



XI, 



Page. 



Progress of Tonnage and Tonnage Dues in the Port during the 

last Twenty Years 82 

Progress of Dues on Goods and Merchandise during the last 

Twenty Years 83 

Amount of Revenue from Dock Dues in the years ending the 

31st of December, 1857 and 1858 84 

Revenue from Graving Docks 85 

Revenue from Dock Warehouses 85 

Miscellaneous Revenue ...... 85 

Progress of Revenue from Town Dues, now applied to Dock 

and Harbour Purposes 86 

Increase of Town Dues' Revenue from 1837-8 to 1857-8 86 

New Revenue and New Obligations of the Dock Trust, under 

the Docks and Harbour Acts of 1857 and 1858 87 

Compensation for Town Dues 87 

Purchase of the Birkenhead Dock Estate 87 

Parliamentary Estimate of Cost of Birkenhead Works 87 

Surplus of Dock Income in 1857 and 1858 87 

THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF LIVERPOOL. 
Origin and present Constitution of the Corporation of 

Liverpool ... 88 

Number of Municipal Electors on the present Register 89 

List of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council in 1859 ... 89 

The Committees of the Town Council ... 90 

Departments and present Committees of the Town Council ... 90 

Officers of the Corporation... 92 

Magistrates for the Borough 93 

The Corporation Income and Expenditure 94 

Estimated Expenditure of the Corporation for the year ending 

31st August, 1859 96 

Estimated Income of the Corporation for the year ending 31st 

August, 1859 98 

IMPROVEMENTS MADE AND WORKS EXECUTED BY 
THE CORPORATION. 

Extent and Cost of Sewerage Works executed since 1847 99 

Number and Increase of Streets 99 

Extent and Improvement of Paving Works 100 

The Lighting of the Town ... 101 



xu. 

Page. 

Public Baths and Washhouses 102 

Public Health since the year 1848 104 

Decrease in the Rate of Mortality in Liverpool 104 

Rate of Mortality in the different Wards of the Borough 105 

Number of Births Registered Yearly ... 106 

Mortality in Liverpool in the years 1857 and 1858... 106 

CRIME IN LIVERPOOL: ITS DETECTION AND PUNISHMENT. 

Number and Nature of the Crimes Committed in the year 

ending the 29th September, 1858 ... 107 

Number of Persons Apprehended and Committed... 109 

The Liverpool Constabulary: its Numbers and Organization ... 109 
The Fire Brigade: its Numbers and Means of Extinguishing 

Fires ilO 

Decrease in the Number of great Fires. .. Ill 

THE SELECT VESTRY AND THE PARISH OF LIVERPOOL. 

List of the Select Vestry Ill 

Amount Expended in Relief of the Poor in 1857-8. . . 112 

Cost of In-door Relief and of the Parish Workhouse 112 

Cost and Management of the Industrial Schools for Pauper 

Children 113 

Cost of Out-door Relief and Number of Persons Relieved 114 

Rateable Property of Liverpool 114 

THE PUBLIC CHARITIES OF LIVERPOOL. 

The Royal Infirmary, Lunatic Asylum, and Northern and 

Southern Hospitals 115 

The North and South Dispensaries, the District Provident 
Society, the Strangers' Friend Society, and the Fever 

Hospital , 116 

The Mercantile Marine Society 117 

The Conway Frigate 118 

THE PUBLIC PLACES OF BUSINESS. 

The Exchange ... • 120 

The Liverpool Stock Exchange 121 

The Corn Exchange 122 

THE COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE PORT. 

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce ... 1 22 

The Shipowners' Association 124 



Xlll. 

Page. 

The Steam Shipowners' Association 125 

The American Chamber of Commerce ... 125 

The East India and China Association. .. 126 

The Cotton Brokers' Association 126 

The General Brokers' Association 126 

The Corn Trade Association 127 

The African Association 127 

The West India Association... 127 

The Brazilian Association ... 128 

The Underwriters' Association 128 

THE L1VEEPOOL CUSTOM HOUSE. 

Amount of Customs' Bevenue paid at Liverpool ... 128 

Present Officers of the Custom House at Liverpool ....,, 129 

EDUCATION IN LIVEKPOOL. 

The Collegiate Institution : its Constitution and System of 

Instruction... 129 

The Liverpool Institute 131 

Queen's College... 132 

Accomodation for Religious Worship ... 133 

The Sailors' Home r 134 

The Local Marine Board 134 

Tenements and Voters in Liverpool 135 

BIRKENHEAD : ITS GEOWTH AND PROGRESS. 

Progress of Birkenhead from the year 1801 to the year 1859 ... 135 

The Commissioners of Birkenhead 137 

The Commissioners of Wallasey 137 

Rapid Growth of Seacombe, Liscard, Egremont, and New 

Brighton 138 

Increase of Waterloo and Seaforth 138 

Increase of Garston 138 

Commencement of the Trade of 1859 ... 138 

Great Increase of Exports at Liverpool 138 

Growth of the Trade of 1859 139 

b 



PAKT II. 

THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL AND THE HARBOUR OF 

THE MERSEY. 

Page. 
Scarcity of Harbours for large Ships on the North- West Coast 

of England 1 

Extent of the Port of Liverpool 2 

Natural Advantages and Disadvantages of the Estuary of the 

Mersey as a Harbour for large Ships 3 

The prevailing Winds, with a Table of the Force and Direction 

of the Winds for the last six years 4 

The Extent and Dangers of the Sand Banks on the Coast of 

Lancashire 5 

Effect of the Tides in keeping open the Entrance to the Harbour 

of the Mersey 7 

Amount of the Tidal Water which passes through the Harbour 

of the Mersey ...... 8 

THE CONSERVANCY OF THE MERSEY. 

The Object of the Conservancy Act of 1842 : the Constitution of 

the Mersey Conservancy Board 9 

The principal Provisions of the Mersey Conservancy Act 9 

The Working of the Conservancy Act 11 

COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE PORT AND HARBOUR IN THE 
YEARS 18-22 AND 1857. 

Survey by Mr. Francis Giles in 1824, and by Mr. James Walker 

and Mr. John B. Hartley in 1857 12 

Direction of the Main Tidal Wave at the Time of both those 

Surveys 12 

Opening and Deepening of the Victoria and the Queen's Channels 1 3 

Narrowing of the Horse and the Kock Channels 13 

Strengthening of the Tidal Current in the Estuary 15 

Changes in the higher part of the Estuary 15 

Increased Depth of the Harbour and of its Entrance 16 

Force of the Tide at the Seacombe Narrows 17 



XV. 

Page. 

Causes of the Changes in the Harbour ! 7 

Great Increase in the Length of the Sea Walls 18 

Table of Comparative Depths of the Mersey in 1822 and 1857... 19 
The New Sea Wall from Seacombe to Egremont ; its Length 

and Direction 19 

THE WALLASEY EMBANKMENT. 

Object of its Erection 21 

Great Natural Changes on the Coast 22 

Provisions of the Wallasey Embankment Act 23 

The Length and Magnitude of the Wallasey Embankment 24 

THE MEESEY DOCKS AND HAEBOUE ACTS OF 1857 AND 1858. 

Titles and Objects of these Acts 25 

Constitution of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board 26 

The Functions of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board 29 

THE CHAETS OF THE PORT AND RIVEE. 

The Frequent Changes in the Entrance to the Port 31 

The Recent Changes in the Victoria and the Queen's Channels 32 

THE BUOYING OF THE ENTRANCES TO THE POET. 

The Banks and Channels, and the Arrangement of the Buoys... 35 

THE LIGHTHOUSES AND FLOATING LIGHTS. 

The Point Lynas Lighthouse 37 

The Hoylake Lighthouse 37 

The Leasowe, Bidston, and Rock Lighthouses 38 

The Formby and Crosby Lighthouses ... 39 

The Floating Lights ; the North- West Lightship... 39 

The Formby and Crosby Lightships 40 

The Landmarks on the Lancashire and Cheshire Coasts : the 

Views of the Landmarks 40 

THE PILOTS OF LIVEEPOOL. 

The Constitution and Powers of the Pilots' Committee, under the 

Mersey Docks and Harbour Acts ... 43 

The Laws for the Government of the Pilots 44 

The Pilot Boats... 46 



XVI. 



Earnings of the Pilots 

Security of the Navigation into the Port of Liverpool 
The small number of Wrecks 



THE LIFEBOATS. 
The Point of Ayr, Hilbre Island; Holyhead, Liverpool, Maga- 
zines, and Formby Lifeboat Stations 



LIVERPOOL OBSERVATORY. 
Its Origin and Importance to Navigation 



THE REGISTERING TIDE GAUGES AND THE RISE OF 
THE TIDES IN THE MERSEY, 

Description of their Eise and Height 

THE TELEGRAPH, 



Along the Coast from Liverpool to Holyhead 



Page. 
49 

49 

50 



50-52 



. RUNDELL'S COMPASS BEARINGS. 

Description and Object 

THE DOCKS OF THE RIVER MERSEY. 

Increase of the Docks from 1824 to 1859 

The Sea Walls of the Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks 

The Formation of the Docks 

The Length and Breadth of the Dock Quays 

The Number and Magnitude of the Dock Gates, and the 

Increase in the Size of Ships 

Depth of Water on the Dock Sills at Liverpool and Birkenhead 

The Graving Docks, their Increase in Number and Size 

The Landing Sheds and Dock Warehouses 

The Dock Eailway 

The High-Level Eailway 

The New Communication with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal 

The Internal Communications of the Docks 

The Eoads along the Docks 



DESCRIPTION OF THE DOCKS. 

THE CANADA DOCK. 

Its Gates (100 feet wide) ; its Lock ; its Dimensions ; its 

Application to the Steam-Ship and Timber Trades 78-81 



53 



-58 

58 

60 

62 
63 
65 
66 

68 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
76 



XV11. 



THE HUSKISSON DOCK. 



Page. 



Its Size ; its Entrances ; its Eevenue in 1858 ; its Use by the 
American, North American, Mediterranean, and other 
Trades 81-83 

THE SANDON DOCK AND BASIN. 

Their Size and Use ; the Revenue of the Sandon Dock and the 

Trades whence it is Derived 83 

THE SANDON GRAVING DOCKS. 

Their Magnitude and Dimensions 84 

THE WELLINGTON DOCK AND HALF-TIDE DOCK. 
Their Size, Uses, Revenue, and Application to the Mediter- 
ranean, the United States, the British American, and other 

Trades 84 

THE BRAMLEY-MOORE DOCK. 
Its Shipping, Tonnage, and Revenue ; and its Use in the 

American and other Trades 85 

The High-Level Railway 86 

THE NELSON DOCK. 
Its Dimensions, Tonnage, Revenue, and Use in the Mediter- 
ranean and other Trades 86 

THE SALISBURY HALF-TIDE DOCK 

Its Use and Revenue 87 

THE COLLINGWOOD DOCK. 
Its Dimensions, Shipping, and Revenue ; its Uses in the 

Coasting and other Trades 88 

THE STANLEY DOCK AND WAREHOUSES. 

Size, Tonnage, and Revenue of the Dock ; its Use in the 

American, East Indian, and other Trades 8!) 

The Stanley Dock Warehouses ; and the Cut to the Leeds and 

Liverpool Canal 90 

THE CLARENCE DOCK AND HALF-TIDE DOCK, AND 
CLARENCE GRAVING DOCKS. 

Their Dimensions, Extent, and Revenue, and their Application 

to the Steam Coasting Trade 91-92 

52 



Page. 



XV111. 
THE TRAFALGAR DOCK. 

Its Extent and Revenue, and its Application to the Steam 

Coasting Trade 93 

THE VICTORIA DOCK. 

Its Extent ; its Revenue ; and its Value to the American, the 
Mediterranean, the European, the India and China, and 
the West India Trades 94 

THE WATERLOO DOCK. 
Its Size ; its great Amount of Shipping ; its Revenue ; and its 

Importance to the American Trade 94 

THE PRINCE'S DOCK. 

Its Magnitude ; its Revenue ; its Use to the Trade of India 
and China, the West Indies and Mexico, the Brazils 
and the West Coast of South America 95 

THE GEORGE'S DOCK. 

Its Size, Shipping, and Revenue, and its Use to the West 

Indian, Brazilian, Mediterranean, European, and other 

Trades 96 

THE MANCHESTER DOCK. 
Its Dimensions and its Use to the River Trade 97 

THE CANNING DOCK. 
Its Dimensions, Shipping, and Revenue, and its Use to the 

Coasting and other Trades 97 

THE CANNING GRAVING DOCKS. 

Their Number and Contents 98 

THE ALBERT DOCK. 
Its Extent ; its Dock Warehouses ; its great Trade and 
Revenue, and its Importance to the India, China, American 
and all other Trades 98 

THE SALTHOUSE DOCK. 

Its Dimensions ; its Revenue ; and its Use in the India and 

China and other Trades 99 



XIX. 



THE WAPPING DOCK. 



Page. 
Its Area, Revenue, and Dock Warehouses ; its Use to the East 

India and China Trades 100 

THE KING'S DOCK. 

Its Dimensions, Shipping, and Revenue ; its Use to the Medi- 
terranean, American, European, Baltic, "West India, and 
Brazilian Trades 101 

THE DUKE'S DOCK. 

Its Value to the Trade with the Interior 101 

THE TOBACCO WAREHOUSES. 

Their Cost and Extent 102 

THE QUEEN'S DOCK. 

Its Size, Shipping, and Revenue ; its general Utility in the 
British North American, the American, the Mediterranean, 
the Australian, the African, the Indian, the European, and 
other Trades 102 

THE COBUEG DOCK. 

Its Dimensions, Shipping, and Revenue, and its Use in the 

Steam Trade 104 

THE BRUNSWICK DOCK. 

Its Extent and Importance ; its Timber Trade ; its Revenue ; 
and its Importance in the North American, the United 
States, and the Baltic Trades 104 

THE TOXTETH DOCK. 
Its Trade and Revenue 105 

THE HARRINGTON DOCK. 

Its Trade and Revenue 106 

THE LANDING STAGES. 

The Ferry Landing Stage, at George's Pier ; its Use and 

Dimensions... 106 

The New Landing Stage for Sea-going Steamers, at Prince's 

Pier 107 

The Birkenhead Landing Stage for Ferry and Sea-going 

Steamers 107 



XX. 



THE NEW BIEKENIIEAD DOCKS. 

THE WESTERN FLOAT. 

Page. 
Its Extent, Depth, and quay Frontage ... 107 

THE EASTERN FLOAT. 

Its Extent, Depth, and quay Frontage... 108 

THE NEW ENTRANCES TO THE FLOATS FROM THE 
RIVER. 

Number and Width of the Passages from the Eiver into the 

Floats 108 

THE EMBANKMENT ACROSS THE GREAT FLOAT. 

The Communication between Birkenhead and Seacombe 109 

THE GREAT LOW WATER BASIN. 

Its Extent, Quays, and method of Sluiceing 109 

THE SECOND LOW WATER BASIN. 

Its Application to Eiver and Coasting Steamers 109 

THE ENLARGED MORPETH DOCK. 

Its Extent and Entrance llo 

THE EGERTON DOCK. 

Its Extent and Connection with the Morpeth Dock and the 

Great Float... 110 

THE BIRKENHEAD LANDING STAGE. 
Its Dimensions and Use 110 

THE BIRKENHEAD DOCK ESTATE. 

Its Revenue from the 1st of January to the 28th of June, 1858 111 

AREA OF THE DOCK ESTATE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE 
RIVER. 

Area of the Liverpool Dock Estate Ill 

Area of the Birkenhead Dock Estate ... ...... 112 

REPORT OF THE DOCK ENGINEER ON THE PROGRESS 
OF THE BIRKENHEAD DOCK WORKS. 

Report of Mr. John B. Hartley, Engineer of the Docks, on the 
Progress of the Birkenhead Dock Works, to the end of 
December, 1858 11^ 



XXI. 



BEPOET OF THE ACTING CONSEBVATOB ON THE CONDITION 
OF THE POBT AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 

PEE SENT YEAE, 1859. 

Page. 
Summary of the Annual Eeport of the Acting Conservator, 

Eear- Admiral George Evans, to the Conservancy Board, 

dated January 31st, 1859. 113 

Table of the Dimensions of each of the Liverpool and Birken- 
head Docks... 116 



" Nor are his blessings to his banks confined, 
But free and common as the sea or wind ; 
When he, to boast or to disperse his stores, 
Full of the tributes of his fruitful shores, 
Visits the world, and in his flying towers, 
Brings home to us, and makes both Indies ours ; 
Finds wealth where 'tis, bestows it where it wants 
Cities in deserts, woods in cities plants. 
So that to us no thing, no place is strange, 
While his wide bosom is the world's Exchange." 

— Sir John Denham on the River Thames : Cooper's Hill. 



PART I. 



THE TOWN, COMMERCE, AND PUBLIC 
INSTITUTIONS OF LIVERPOOL. 



Liverpool owes its position amongst the great com- 
munities of England entirely to its commerce and shipping, 
and no other seaport of the United Kingdom has risen to 
so a high a point of population and wealth by those means 
only. London, which alone rivals Liverpool in the great- 
ness and extent of its commerce, owes its position, above 
all other cities, not only of England, hut of the world, to a 
variety of powerful causes, of which its great and 
flourishing commerce is only one, though probably the 
most important, as well as the most permanent. The 
other seaports of the United Kingdom, though many of 
them flourishing in wealth, and some of them, aided by great 
manufacturing as well as commercial activity, have all 
been surpassed by Liverpool. The commerce of Liverpool 
is universal in its nature and vast in its extent. An ancient 
English writer described seaports as the gates of the king- 
dom ; but ports like Liverpool and London, frequented by 
the ships and men, and. crowded with the commodities, of 
all nations, are even more than this, they are the gates of 
the world. 



THE POPULATION OF THE TOWN AND SUBURBS OF 
LIVERFOOL. 

The population of the parliamentary borough of Liver- 
pool, at the date of the last census, in 1851, amounted to 
*375,955 inhabitants; and the population of the suburbs, 
in which a large portion of the merchants and tradesmen 
of Liverpool reside, and in which they were enumerated by 
the census-takers, was at least 70,000 more. The increase 
of the town population, from 1841 to 1851, was from 
286,487 to 376,005, or nearly 100,000 souls, making the rate 
of increase about 10,000 a- year. The rate of increase in the 
suburban villages, on the Lancashire side of the Mersey, 
and in Birkenhead, and the line of villages extending along 
the Cheshire side of the river, is probably at the rate of 
5,000 a-year more. Hence the population, collected within 
four miles of the Liverpool Exchange, cannot be much, if 
anything, less, at the present time, than 600,000 souls. 

THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 

The account of the occupations of the people of Liver- 
pool and the neighbourhood, given in the last census table, 
shows how completely they are dependent on commerce, 
shipping, and the trades connected with those pursuits. 
The whole population of Liverpool, Birkenhead, and the 
suburbs are contained in the four districts or unions of 
Liverpool, Toxteth Park, West Derby, and Wirral, and the 
occupations of the inhabitants of each of those districts 
were as follows : — 

The Union of Liverpool, which is considerably less than 



the present parliamentary borough, but which is co- 
extensive with the limits of the parish and of the ancient 
borough, contained a population of 258,346 inhabitants, 
at the date of the last census. Taking the whole of the popu- 
lation, above twenty years of age, it was found that 49*1 
per cent, of them were engaged in pursuits connected with 
navigation, commerce, trade, mechanical arts, or in domestic 
service; that 4*5 were engaged in manufactures; 3*2 in 
mines or mining works ; and less than one per cent. — only 
0*8 — in agriculture. The parish or union of Liverpool, 
forming the oldest and most densely peopled portion of 
the present borough, contains 2,220 acres of land, and, 
with trifling exceptions, is covered with houses, and laid 
out in streets, squares, docks, and quays. 

The Toxteth Union, which includes a considerable 
portion of the present borough, contained, at the same time, 
a population of 61,334 inhabitants. The employments of 
the population, above twenty years of age, were as follows : 
— Navigation, shipping, commerce, trades, the mechanical 
arts, and domestic service, 42' 6 ; manufactures, 3*6 ; mining 
and mineral works, 3*7 ; and agriculture, 4*7. The Toxteth 
Union extends over 3,780 acres of land. There is a slight 
tinge of rural life at the extremities of the district ; but the 
part adjoining Liverpool, and known by the name of Har- 
rington, is nearly as densely peopled as the ancient borough 
of Liverpool, and contains docks, shipbuilding yards, 
foundries, and manufactories, as well as crowded streets. 
The outer part of the district of Toxteth, once a royal deer 
park, consists of pleasant dingles winding down to the 
Mersey, of natural terraces on the banks of the river, and 
•of woody hills, nearly all of which have been converted 
a2 



6 

into parks and pleasure grounds, and covered with villas 
and ornamental cottages. The beautiful district of 
Aigburth, described in old deeds as Ackbright, and named 
from the beauty of its oak woods, now covered with villas, 
and commanding the finest views of the estuary of the 
Mersey, the hills of Wirral, and the distant mountains of 
Wales, lies to the south of this district. 

The Union of West Derby is still more extensive, and 
at the date of the last census contained a population of 
91,945. The occupations of the inhabitants of this union 
were : — Navigation, shipping, commerce, trades, mechanical 
arts, and domestic service, 42*6 ; manufactures, 3*6 ; 
mining and minerals, 3*7; and agriculture, 4*7. The 
townships of Kirkdale and Everton, and the districts of 
Low-hill and Edge-hill, within the parliamentary boun- 
dary of Liverpool, form part of this union, and the 
finest of the Liverpool docks are situated within it. The 
greater portion of the district is crowded with popula- 
tion, and thousands more are pouring into it every year. 
Beyond the densely peopled district included in the 
borough of Liverpool, are the flourishing villages of 
Stanley, Old Swan, Tue Brook, Newsham, and Walton, all 
of which are chiefly inhabited by merchants and others 
engaged in the trade and commerce of Liverpool. This 
union is very extensive, covering 46,799 acres of land, and 
yet not a greater proportion, than 4*7, of its population is 
engaged in agriculture. 

The population of the union of Wirral, which includes 
the town of Birkenhead, and all the populous villages on 
the Cheshire banks of the Mersey, contained 57,147 inha- 
bitants at the last census. The occupations and means of 



subsistence of the population, were as follows: — Navigation, 
shipping, trade, commerce, mechanical arts, and domestic 
service, 39'0 ; manufactures, 2 ; mining and mineral works, 
S'2; agriculture, 9*3. Birkenhead is now the principal 
place in this union, and depends altogether on trade and 
commerce, which have raised it from the position of a 
hamlet of 120 inhabitants, in 1821, to that of a town of 
upwards of 30,000 inhabitants, in 1859. The flourishing 
villages of New Ferry, Eock Ferry, Tranmere, Oxton, 
Claughton, Wallasey, Egremont, and New Brighton, all 
owe their origin and rapid progress to the same cause. 
The other portions of the Union of Wirral are still devoted 
to agriculture ; but every year a greater number of villas, 
erected by the more prosperous of the merchants and ship- 
owners of Liverpool, spring up, on the banks of one or other 
of the noble estuaries, which wash the opposite shores of 
the peninsula, in every sheltered valley which winds down 
to their banks, and on every lofty point, which commands a 
view of the hills of Cheshire, the mountains of Wales, and 
the ocean, covered with innumerable ships, passing into or 
out of the port of Liverpool. 

It is only within the last thirty years, that the in- 
habitants of Liverpool have possessed such ample means, 
of uniting the pleasures of the country with the active 
occupations of the town. Since that time ten or twelve 
lines of omnibuses have been started, running to every 
village in the neighbourhood, and many of the pleasantest 
districts have been intersected by lines of railway, whilst, 
on the river Mersey, numerous lines of steamers, like so 
many floating bridges, give the inhabitants the power of 
exchanging, in a few moments, the healthy breezes of 



8 



the river and the sea, for the close atmosphere of the 
office, and present them with the prospect of a line of 
docks, and a movement of shipping, which, in extent and 
variety, are not to be surpassed, if equalled, in any seaport 
of the world. 

The effect of these great facilities for locomotion has 
been to change the aspect both of the town and the sur- 
rounding country. Comparatively few large and beautiful 
dwelling-houses are now built in town, while thousands are 
scattered over the sea-shore, from Southport to Hoylake, 
or along both banks of the estuary, and the range of 
hills, commencing at Walton, and running through West 
Derby, Thingwall, Wavertree, Mossley Hill, Childwall, and 
Woolton, which everywhere command charming views of 
the sea, the river, or the country extending towards 
Knowsley, Huyton, Prescot, and of the hills beyond Run- 
corn. On the other hand, the town, whilst it has lost the 
large houses which it formerly contained, has been orna- 
mented with some of the finest public buildings, and, more 
recently, with the handsomest ranges of offices, which exist 
in any town in the empire. 



THE PROPERTY AND INCOME OF LIVERPOOL. 

The amount of Property and Income Tax paid in Liver- 
pool, in the year 1857, appears from returns laid before 
Parliament last session, to have been greater than that of 
any other town or city in the United Kingdom, with the 
exception of London. The amount of income returned to 



9 



the Property and Income Tax, under the different schedules, 

wa's as follows : — 

Under Schedule A £1,850,408 

„ Schedule B 2,129 

„ Schedule D 5,279,836 



Total, £7,132,373 



THE SHIPPING, THE COMMERCE, AND THE 
NAVIGATION OF LIVERPOOL. 

Commerce, shipping, and navigation supply the life's- 
blood of the social system, in this great port, which now 
possesses about one third part of the commerce of the 
United Kingdom, and carries on as great, if not a greater 
trade with foreign countries, and the British possessions 
abroad, than any other seaport in the world. London 
and New York stand in the same rank as Liverpool, as 
commercial cities, but in some respects, as a place of 
commerce, it surpasses even the great capitals of the Old 
and the New World. 



THE SHIPPING AND NAVIGATION OF LIVERPOOL. 

The amount of tonnage registered at, and belonging to, 
the port of Liverpool, is greater than that belonging to any 
other port of the United Kingdom. It appears from 
the Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of 
the United Kingdom with foreign countries, and the British 



10 



possessions, in the year 1857, published by the Board of 
Trade, in December, 1858 (page 27), that the burden 'of 
the vessels, registered in the port of Liverpool, on the 31st 
December, 1857, was 936,022 tons, and that of the vessels 
registered in the port of London, at the same date, was 
859,140 tons, giving Liverpool a superiority of 76,882 
tons. No other port in the United Kingdom possesses 
even the half of this tonnage ; and, in 1858, the shipping 
of Liverpool had increased to 953,955 tons. 

In addition to the shipping which is registered in the 
port, Liverpool is also visited every year by some million 
tons of shipping, belonging to other British ports, or to 
foreign countries. This is drawn to it by its extensive 
markets for foreign produce, its unrivalled export trade, and 
the great crowds of passengers and emigrants, who sail from 
the river Mersey, to all parts of the world, but more 
•especially to the United States, Australia, and British 
America. 

According to the statement already mentioned, the num- 
ber of vessels engaged in the foreign and colonial trade, 
which entered the port of Liverpool, in the year 1857, was 
4,528, with a burden of 2,329,928 tons; and the number 
which cleared out, in the same trades, was 5,003 vessels, 
with a burden of 2,535,952 tons. In the same year there 
entered the port of Liverpool, in the- coasting trade, 9,677 
vessels, with a burden of 1,513,210 tons ; and cleared out 
in that trade, 10,509 vessels, with a burden of 1,484,806 
tons (p. 434). The total movement of shipping in and 
out of the port that year was 7,863,896 tons. But these 
figures, large as they are, do not show the whole movement 
of shipping through the port of Liverpool; for the quantity 



11 

of tonnage which paid dock dues in the last financial year 
of the Dock Trust, ending on the 24th of June, 1858, was 
4,441,943 tons; and as nearly the whole of this tonnage, 
or an equivalent portion of the shipping which had entered 
in the latter part of the previous year, both entered and 
cleared out of the port, the movement of shipping through 
the port was little less than 9,000,000 tons. 

THE COMMERCE OF LIVERPOOL. 

Whilst the shipping which passes through the port of 
Liverpool amounts to between eight and nine millions of 
tons yearly, the value of the merchandise brought and 
conveyed by it, amounts to upwards of one hundred mil- 
lions of pounds sterling. The imports consist of almost 
every article produced on the face of the earth, which the 
wants, the pleasures, and even the caprices of the British 
people render acceptable to them. The exports consist of 
the numerous articles of comfort and utility, which the 
abundant capital, the hereditary skill, the powerful and 
delicate machinery, and the inexhaustible mines and mine- 
rals this country enable the British producer to furnish to 
foreign nations, cheaper than they can produce them for 
themselves. Besides supplying the wants of their own 
countrymen, the merchants of Liverpool also import largely, 
chiefly from Asia, America, and Australia, commodities for 
the use of the continental nations, and transmit the manu- 
factures of the continent, along with our own, to distant 
countries. In addition to these, the ships of the port 
furnish three-fourths of the emigrants from the United 
Kingdom, with cheap and quick passages to those regions 



12 

of North America, Africa, and Australia, which they are 
filling- with the language, the manners, the freedom, and 
the institutions of Britain. 

In the last year, for which we have a complete return* 
1857, very nearly one-half of the products of British 
industry, exported to foreign countries and the British 
possessions, were shipped at Liverpool. In that year 
the total quantity of British products exported was 
£122,066,107; and of these, articles of the value of 
£55,173,756, were exported from Liverpool. In the same 
year, the value of the articles of British industry exported 
from London was £27,832,348; from Hull, £15,758,813 ; 
from Glasgow, £5,103,318; and from Southampton, 
£2,065,045. The aggregate value of the exports of the 
United Kingdom, for the year just ended, is somewhat 
less than that of 1857, and Liverpool, like other ports, 
has shared in the common depression. But the commerce 
of the port, though it fluctuates, from year to year, with 
the commerce of the empire, shows a steadiness of pro- 
gression, which soon obliterates the marks of temporary 
pressure. Twenty years ago, in the year 1839, the value 
of the British products, sent from Liverpool, was 
£25,703,847; in 1857 it was £55,173,756, or more than 
twice as great ; and the rate of increase was greater during 
the last five years than at any previous period. Nor is the 
ratio of increase likely to become less, with India rising 
into new activity, China and Japan thoroughly opened to 
the trade of the world, Australia advancing in wealth, at a 
rate surpassing all previous experience, and the Anglo- 
Saxon population of North America, doubling its numbers 
every twenty years. 



13 

In examining the long list of articles exported from 
Liverpool, it will be found that they are such as meet the 
regular and daily wants of the great mass of mankind, not 
such as are only called for by taste and luxury. This is the 
great characteristic of the industry of this country ; and is at 
once a reason for the prodigious extension of British com- 
merce, and a security for its permanency. The demand for 
luxuries and articles of taste must always be small in its 
extent, and precarious in its nature, but it is difficult to 
assign any limits to the demand for cotton, woollen, and 
linen fabrics, for iron, for coals, for machinery, and for other 
articles of universal and constant use. 

The imports of Liverpool are nearly as valuable as the 
exports, and consist of the produce of every country and 
climate. The wide valley of the Mississippi, the banks of 
the Amazons, the plains of India, and the classic soil of 
Egypt, fill the market of Liverpool with cotton. Wool is 
brought to the shores of the Mersey, from thirty different 
countries, scattered round the temperate zones of the 
earth. The plains of South America, and the high lands 
of India, supply the hides of millions of cattle. The 
pastures of the Ohio furnish provisions for the spinners and 
weavers of Lancashire ; whilst the grain grown on the banks 
of the St. Lawrence, the Delaware, the Loire, the Elbe, 
the Vistula, the Danube, and the Don, meets in the market of 
Liverpool, to furnish them with their daily bread. The 
olive woods of Italy, the palm groves of Africa, the plains 
of Belgium, the floating ice of Newfoundland, and the 
depths of the Arctic Seas, all furnish their varieties of oil. 
Copper and silver ore are brought in large quantities from 
South America, to be smelted with the coal of St. Helens. 

*B 



14 



Ceylon sends its coffee ; the East and West Indies their 
sugar ; America its rice ; Bengal its jute ; Honduras its 
mahogany; Peru its guano; the Malucces their spices; 
Maryland its tobacco ; and the forests of America their 
timber. There is indeed no article of use in the arts, or 
in the support of life, which is not found in the long- 
list of products imported into Liverpool. 



THE SAILING VESSELS OF THE PORT. 

The sailing vessels engaged in the foreign and coastings 
trade, together, show an increase of about 400,000 tons since 
1851 ; but the sailing vessels in the coasting trade have not 
increased, probably from the greater competition of railways 
and steam-boats. The number of vessels discharging their 
cargoes at Runcorn, up the river, shows little change. 



Year ending 
1st June. 


Foreign and 
Colonial Trade. 


Coasting. 


Runcorn. 


Total. 


1851 


1,642,636 


656,856 


178,169 


2,477,651 


1852 


1,728,100 


648,675 


221,743 


2,598,518 


1853 


1,763,541 


647,227 


189,775 


2,410,768 


1854 


2,044,491 


647,268 


203,094 


2,691,719 i 


1855 


1,876,248 


630,329 


180,233 


2,506,537 


1856 


2,146,153 


645,972 


185,836 


2,792,125 


1857 


2,188,s67 


662,870 


183,434 


3,035,151 


1858 


2,040,981 


618,451 


183,022 


2,842,514 



The above figures are taken from the table of Dock and 
Light Dues received in the port of Liverpool, published by 
the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board last autumn, as are 
also the figures in the following table of the steam trade of 
the Mersev. 



15 



THE STEAM TONNAGE OF THE PORT. 

Of the shipping which paid dock dues in the Mersey 
in the twelve months, ending 24th June, 1858, no less 
than 1,599,429 tons consisted of steamers, of which 
amount 1,213,638 tons was engaged in the coasting- 
trade, and 385,791 in the trade with foreign countries. 
The following figures show that the tonnage of the steamers 
engaged in the trade with foreign countries, and the colo- 
nies, has trebled since the year 1851. The increase in 
the coasting steamers is much less rapid, but the amount 
of steam tonnage in that trade is very great. 



STEAM TRADE OF THE MERSEY. 



Year ending 


Foreign Trade. 


Coa-ting Trade. 


Total. 


Jutip. 1851 


Tons. 
121,169 
188,715 
189,404 
237,579 
214,885 
242,905 
391,497 
385,791 


Tons. 
1,138,836 
1,125,273 
1,100,334 
1,184,051 
1,194,465 
1,099,752 
1,218,714 
1,213,638 


Tons. 
1,260,005 
1,313,988 
1,289.738 
1,421,630 
1,409,350 
1,342,657 
1,610,211 
1,599,429 




, 1852 




, 1853 

, 1854 

, 1855 

, 1856 


, 1857 

, 1858 



THE INCREASE OF SHIPPING IN THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL. 



The amount of shipping, British and foreign, which 
paid dock dues to the Mersey Dock and Harbour Trust, in 
its last financial year, ending 24th June, 1858, was 
4,441,943 tons. Large as this amount appears, it is not 
equal to that of the previous year, which was 4,645,362 
tons. 



16 



The progress of the port, as shown by the tonnage of the 
vessels paying dock dues, will he seen from the following 
facts: — In the year 1823, the tonnage which paid dues, 
for the first time exceeded 1,000,000 tons, having that 
year amounted to 1,010,819 tons. In the year 1838, it 
first exceeded 2,000,000 tons^ having that year amounted 
to 2,020,206 tons. In the year 1845, it first exceeded 
3,000,000 tons, having that year amounted to 3,016,531. In 
the year 1854, it first exceeded 4,000,000 tons, having 
been as follows, in that and the succeeding years, to the 
present time : — 

AMOUNT OF TONNAGE PAYING DOCK DUES IN THE MERSEY. 

From the 24th of June, 1854, to the 24th of June, 1858. 

1854 4,316,583 tons. 

1855 4,096,160 „ 

1856 4,320,618 „ 

1857 4,645,362 „ 

1858 4,441,943 „ 

THE NUMBER OF VESSELS FROM AND TO DIFFERENT 
COUNTRIES. 

The number of vessels which arrived in Liverpool, 
from different foreign countries, and from the British 
possessions abroad, amounted in the last year for 
which we have a complete and official return (1857) 
to 4,528. The number from each country and colony 
was as follows :— From the United States, 934 vessels 



17 



(of an average of more than 1,000 tons each) ; 493 
from British America ; 505 from Central and South 
America; 331 from the East Indies, Hong Kong and 
Australia; 317 from France ; 295 from Spain ; 169 from 
Portugal ; 174 from the Italian States ; 150 from the 
British West Indies ; 123 from Belgium; 116 from Hol- 
land ; 109 from Germany; 101 from Turkey; 98 from 
Egypt; 96 from Cuba and the foreign West Indies; 75 
from Prussia ; 74 from Denmark ; 74 from foreign ports 
•on the West Coast of Africa; 71 from the northern ports 
of Bussia; 37 from British possessions on the Coast of 
Africa; 31 from the southern ports of Bussia; 36 from 
the Channel Islands ; 1 7 from China, exclusive of Hong 
Kong; 13 from Norway; 13 from Wallachia and Mol- 
davia ; 1 3 from Syria ; 3 from Fernando Po ; 11 from the 
Ionian Islands ; 1 from Gibraltar and Malta ; 1 1 from the 
Philippine Islands; 10 from Morocco ; 7 from Sweden; 2 
from Java ; 7 from Greece ; 1 from Tunis ; and 1 from the 
Birman Empire. 

The number of vessels which cleared at Liverpool, to 
foreign countries and the British possessions in the same year, 
was 5,003, namely : — To the United States, 842; to British 
North America, 454 ; to the East Indies, Hong Kong, and 
Australia, 517; to Central and South America, 597; 
to northern ports of Bussia, 289 ; to the Italian States, 250 ; 
to France, 241 ; to Cuba and the Foreign West Indies, 
205; to Holland, 175; to Belgium, 117; to Portugal, 
Azores, and Madeira, 142; to Spain, 177; to Gibraltar and 
Malta 115 ; to Malta, 127 ; to the British West Indies, 127 ; 
to Denmark, 98 ; to Germany, 64 ; to British Posses- 
sions in Africa, 57 ; to Egypt, 35 ; to the Channel Islands, 
*B 2 



18 



32; to Turkey, 82; to Norway, 35; to Moldavia and 
Wallachia, 14; to the Ionian Islands, 14; to China, 
exclusive of Hong Kong, 17; to Java, 16 ; to Aden, 27 ; 
to the Philippine Islands, 14; to the Cape de Verdes, 2; 
to Fernando Po, 6 ; to Greece, 2 ; to Syria, 6 ; to Tunis, 
3 ; to Morocco, 1 ; to Birmah, 1 ; to the Sandwich 
Islands, 6 ; to the ports of the Red Sea, 2 ; to Arabia, 2 ; 
to Persia, 1. 

The number of vessels passing to and fro, as shown 
by the preceding figures, may generally be taken as a test 
of the extent of the commerce with each country named. 



THE CARGOES OF THE SHIPPING TO AND FROM 
LIVERPOOL. 

The immense amount of shipping which frequents the 
port of Liverpool is brought there, by the extent and value 
of the freights, yielded by the carriage of goods and produce, 
of the value of upwards of a hundred millions sterling per 
annum, and by the profits on the conveying of from 150,000 
to 200,000 passengers and emigrants, who sail from, or 
arrive in, the port every year. In order to render a port 
a desirable place for shipping, it is necessary that it 
should be suited to receive and dispose of large quantities 
of produce from abroad, and be capable of furnishing large 
quantities of produce and goods, for foreign countries. It 
is also necessary that both the inward and outward cargoes 
should consist of a mixture of light, heavy, and medium 
goods; and it is very desirable that there should be a large 
supply of passengers of all classes, to improve freights 



19 

on good cargoes of merchandise, and to make up for bad 
ones. All these advantages Liverpool possesses, in a high 
degree. 

With regard, in the first place, to the cargoes of foreign 
and colonial produce which are imported into Liverpool. 
They are brought from every port and from every country 
of the globe, and they include every variety of merchan- 
dise. There are a few articles, however, of unusual extent 
and importance, — such as cotton, corn, timber, wool, 
sugar, tea, coffee, provisions, palm oil, hides, rice, and 
tobacco. In the last year of which we have a complete 
account, there were imported into Liverpool, from foreign 
countries and the colonies, the following quantities of 
those articles: — Cotton, 8,078,0-12 cwts. ; wheat, 766,751 
qrs.; barley, 52,091 qrs.; oats, 16,190 qrs.; peas, 19,259 
qrs.; beans, 80,909 qrs.; Indian corn or maize, 473,580 
qrs.; wheatmeal and flour, 1,134,520 cwts. (in addi- 
tion to the large imports from Ireland) ; timber, 
187,564 loads, not sawn or split; and 223,177 loads, sawn 
or split; wool (sheep and lambs), 41,247,359 lbs.; and 
alpaca and llama, 2,126,586 lbs.; sugar, 1,676,929 cwts.; 
tea, 8,439,711 lbs.; coffee, 1,788,523 lbs.; palm oil, 
597,398 cwts.; hides, 229,117 cwts., wet; 51,518 cwts. dry; 
and 1,448,311 tanned; provisions and lard, upwards of 
500,000 cwts.; madder roots, 309,735 cwts.; hemp, 
175,708 cwts.; jute, 443,350 cwts.; rice, 1,734,449 cwts.; 
spirits, upwards of 1,700,000 gallons; tobacco, nearly 
20,000,000 lbs.; and wine, upwards of 1,107,399 gallons. 
In the year 1858, the imports of cotton were still larger, 
but those of several articles showed a decline, from the 
pressure of the times. 



20 



With regard to cargoes for export, Liverpool possesses 
a decided advantage over all other ports, as relates hoth 
to heavy and light goods, and to passengers. The quantity 
of fine or light goods was as follows : — Cotton goods 
exported from Liverpool, 1,453,265,692 yards; cotton 
yarn, 52,077,443 lbs.; linen goods, 91,344,031 yards; linen 
yarn, 7,020,291 lbs.; woollen goods, 1,929,711 pieces; 
worsted and mixed stuffs, 52,503,085 yards; the value 
of the silk manufactures exported, was £836,613 ; the 
quantity of leather was 3,024,081 lbs.; of hardware and 
cutlery, 503,713 cwts. The heavy goods exported from 
Liverpool, consisted principally of the following articles : — 
coals, cinders, and culm, 543,794 tons ; machinery, in 
value, upwards of a million sterling, viz., steam engines, 
£218,771 ; other kinds, £885,986 ; iron, in pigs, bars, 
wire, and castings, 275,060 tons; copper, unwrought, 
149,272 cwts.; tin plates, in value £1,206,191; salt, 
577,735 tons; soap, 130,433 tons; soda, 671,725 cwts. ; 
and wool, 1,352,401 lbs. 

In addition to these articles of British manufacture or 
production, there were also re-exported the following, 
(amongst other) articles of foreign or colonial produce : — 
Coffee, 1,513,517 lbs.; cotton, 293,504 cwts. ; palm oil, 
109,956 cwts. ; rice, 417,702 cwts. ; tea, 1,447,244 lbs. ; 
tobacco, 3,703,545 lbs. ; wool, 3,616,038 lbs. ; alpaca and 
llama, 16,757 lbs. 

Another branch of export trade has also sprung up of 
late, in the conveyance of foreign goods, landed in England, 
for shipment to more distant countries. Liverpool has 
obtained a considerable share of this trade, as will be seen 
from the following list of foreign goods, landed at Hull, 



21 



Hartlepool, and other places, and forwarded to Liverpool 
for shipment: — Beads and bugles of glass, 23,534 lbs. ; 
cheese, 2,450 cwts. ; corks, cut, 20,560 lbs. ; corn, wheat, 
3,084 qrs. ; other kinds of grain, 4,706 qrs. ; wheatineal 
and flour, 168 qrs. ; glass, (window) 2,918 cwts., and flint, 
102,704 lbs.; opium, 79,802 lbs.; paper, 122,814 lbs.; 
rum, 38,928 gallons; brandy, 32,341 gallons; Geneva, 
92,500 gallons; other kinds of spirits, 16,424 gallons; 
sugar, 805 cwts. ; tea, 49,628 lbs. ; tobacco, unmanufac- 
tured, 50,791 lbs., manufactured and cigars, 20,304 lbs. ; 
vinegar, 3,180 gallons; wine, 40,249 gallons; and silk, 
woollen, linen, cotton, and leather manufactures, not sepa- 
rately specified, amounting in value to £135,542, received 
by way of Hull, and £7,022, by way of Hartlepool. 



THE EMIGRANT AND PASSENGER TRADES. 

Another branch of the shipping business, of the greatest 
importance, is the conveying of emigrants to the United 
States, British America, and Australia, and passengers to and 
from foreign countries. Liverpool has long possessed this 
trade pre- eminently, and though the last year was an unusually 
dull one, as relates to emigration, to all countries except 
Australia, there is no reason to fear that it will either cease, 
or even decrease materially. The rate of increase of 
the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Celtic races is not likely to 
diminish ; and the tide of German emigration now flows 
strongly through England, and especially through Liver- 
pool, which presents advantages for emigrants, even when 
compared with such flourishing ports as Hamburg and 



22 

Bremen. And beyond the ocean, in the United States, 
British America, Australia, and South Africa, the foun- 
dations have been laid, of vast communities, which will 
absorb the surplus of the British Islands, and of such of 
the continental nations, as have the same enterprising 
spirit as the Anglo-Saxon and Celt, for many generations 
to come. Emigration now performs the part in regulating 
population, which was formerly performed by pestilence, 
famine, and war. 

The total number of emigrants from all the ports of the 
United Kingdom, in the year 1855, was 176,807, of which 
number 119,108 sailed from Liverpool; in 1856, 176,554, 
of whom 127,558 sailed from Liverpool; and in 1857, 
212,875, of whom 155,647 sailed from Liverpool. Last 
year there was a considerable decrease of emigation, owing 
chiefly to unfavourable accounts, as to the opening for 
emigrants in the United States, Canada, and Australia. 
At Liverpool the falling off was very great, especially to 
the United States. The whole number of emigrants from 
Liverpool declined in that year to 80,722 souls. This, 
indeed, is a prodigious number, though it shows a great 
decline, especially in comparison with the extraordinary 
numbers of 1857. It is easily accounted for, by the fact of 
the great commercial convulsion of 1857 and 1858, which 
commenced, and raged with excessive violence in the 
United States, and afterwards spread round the world, 
even to Australia. During the greater portion of last 
year the condition of our own population was as good, 
if not better, than that of the population of the United 
States, Canada, and Australia; but the permanent rate of 
wages is higher in those countries than in the United 



23 

Kingdom; the profits of capital are twice as high; and 
three-fourths of the soil, in some cases, and nine-tenths 
of it in others, is still unoccupied. These are circumstances 
which must cause a great and permanent flow of population 
from Europe to those countries. 

Until the last eight years, nearly the whole tide of 
British emigration flowed into the United States and Bri- 
tish America ; hut, since the discovery of the gold-fields of 
Australia, and the aholition of penal lahour in that country, 
a very considerable portion has flowed to Australia and New 
Zealand. The emigration to the United States, from all 
parts of the United Kingdom, was, in 1855, 103,414 
persons; in 1856, 111,837; and in 1857, 126,905: to 
British America, in 1855, 17,966 persons; in 1856, 
16,378; and in 1857, 21,001: to Australia, in 1855, 
52,309; in 1856, 44,584; and in 1857, 61,248; and to 
other places, chiefly South Africa, in 1855, 3,118 persons; 
in 1856, 3,715; and in 1857, 3,721. 

The particulars of the passenger traffic, as distinguished 
from the emigrant trade, are less accessible ; but with regard 
to one great branch of that traffic, namely, that of passen- 
gers crossing the Atlantic in steamers, it is stated, apparently 
on authority, that the number of persons who crossed 
to and fro, in 1858, was 50,019, and that of this number 
21,009 passed by way of Liverpool ; 6,814 by way of South- 
ampton and Bremen; 3,704 byway of Southampton and 
Havre ; 3,784 by way of Glasgow ; 3,401 by way of Galway ; 
4,153 byway of Bremen; and 9,254 by way of Hamburg. 

The number of persons intending to emigrate to foreign 
countries, or the colonies, brought to Liverpool from the 
ports of Ireland, in coasting steamers, in the twelve months 



24 



ending September 30, 1855, was 100,354; in the twelve 
months ending at the same date in 1856, was 96,013 ; and 
in the twelve months ending at the same date in 1857, 
108,353. 

It was stated, in a paper read before the Association 
for the Promotion of Social Science, at its meeting in 
Liverpool, in 1858, that the total number of emigrants who 
had left the shores of Great Britain, from the year 1815 
to the year 1857, was no less than 4,683,194, and that 
one-half of this number had emigrated since the year 1847. 
The number which proceeded to each of the great seats of 
emigration was said to have been : — To the United States, 
2,830,687 ; to British America, 1,170,342 ; to Australia and 
New Zealand, 613,615, to other places, chiefly South 
Africa, 68,550. 



THE AUSTRALIAN CLIPPERS. 

In the course of the year 1858, 100 ships — of the 
average burden of upwards of 1,200 tons each, and the 
aggregate burden of 124,100 tons — sailed from Liverpool 
for Australia, carrying upwards of 24,090 passengers and 
emigrants. The following particulars respecting these 
ships, and the passengers and emigrants conveyed by them, 
have been collected from the books of Captain Schomberg, 
K. N., the emigration officer of the port : 

In the course of the year 1858, 57 ships were despatched 
with private emigrants under the regulations of the Passen- 
gers' Act ; 14 vessels were despatched, with a limited 
number of passengers, not under the regulations of that 
act ; and 30 were despatched, with government emigrants. 



25 

The following are the names, descriptions, and des- 
tinations of the vessels of each class, with the names 
of the owners or charterers of the vessels, which include 
those of the principal promoters of this new and valuable 
trade : 

PRIVATE EMIGRATION. 



Date. 


Ship's Name. 


Tons. 


P'SDgVS 


Destina'n. 


Owners and Brokers. 


Jan 6 

7 

15 

21 

30 

Feb 6 
16 
18 
19 
20 

Mar 2 

3 

10 

22 

31 

Aprl 7 
17 
21 
28 
29 

May 8 
17 
21 
28 
29 

June 10 
19 
21 
21 
30 

July 3 
10 
20 
20 


Macaulay 


1139 
2719 
1110 

777 
1042 
1052 

903 
1027 
1460 
1046 
1108 

853 
1098 
1291 
1564 
1625 
1961 
1309 

904 
1130 
2605 
1075 
1676 
1036 
1113 
1563 
1315 
1315 
1671 

794 
2377 
1201 
1597 
1538 


168 
375 
103 
162 
162 
228 

77 

58 
148 
107 
103 

46 
181 
215 
202 
357 
288 
208 
188 
114 
436 
196 
219 
288 
113 
289 
141 
166 
187 

65 
302 
182 
454 
109 


Melb'ne 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 


J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
J. M. Walthew 
Wilson & Chambers 
E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 
J. M. Walthew 
J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
Wilson & Chambersj 
E. Thompson 
Wilson & Chambers | 
J. Baines & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs,Bright,&Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
E. Thompson 
Wilson & Chambers 
J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs, Bright, &Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
E. Thompson 
Wilson & Chambers 
J. Baines & Co 
J. M. Walthew 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 

Ditto 
E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
Gibbs,Bright,&Co 


Royal Charter ... 
Exodus 


Senator 


Florine 


Scottish Chief ... 
Zuleika 


James Cheston... 

Winifred 

Americana 

Royal Saxon 

Northern Bride. . 
Monsoon 


Columbia 


Harmonides 

Marco Polo 

Young America. . 
Gertrude 


Salem 


Sirocco 


Donald M'Kay... 
Tornado 


John Owens 




Sir Wm. Eyre ... 
Albion 


Invincible 


Gen. Windham. . . 
Morning Light... 

Eastern City 

Red Jacket 

Middlesex 





*c 



26 



Date. 


Ship's Name. 


Tons. 


P'sngrs 


Destina'n. 


Owners and Brokers. 


July 28 

Aug 7 
20 
25 
28 

Sept 7 
17 
21 
29 
29 

Oct 6 
22 
22 
28 
30 

Nov 6 
20 
20 
27 

Dec 4 
18 
21 


Morning Star ... 
Champion of Sea 

White Star 

Rydal 


1534 
1946 
2339 
222 
1468 
1383 
1831 
1233 
1188 
1194 
1412 
2704 
1402 
1557 
1163 
1277 
1316 
2722 
1174 
1026 
1050 
1266 


169 
316 
570 

28 
194 
389 
279 
322 
362 
158 
351 
310 
391 
258 
126 
245 
194 
352 
167 
282 

74 
134 


Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
P. Natal 
Melb'ne 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 
Ditto 


E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
Lamport & Holt 
E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
E. Thompson 
Wilson & Chambers 
J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
E. Thompson 
Wilson & Chambers 
J. Baines & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co | 
E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 
Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 


Sarah Dixon 

Ellen Stuart 

Meter 

Mermaid 


Flor. Nightingale 
Tasmania 


Greyhound 

Royal Charter ... 
Shalimar 


Black Eagle 


Mindora 


Sultana 


Great Britain ... 


Ocean Chief 

Eagle 


Beechworth 


7,8606 


12,122 



SHIPS CARRYING PASSENGERS, BUT NOT UNDER THE 
REGULATIONS OF THE PASSENGERS' ACT. 



Date. 


Ship's Name. 


Tons. 


P'sngrs 


Destina'n. 


Owners and Brokers. 


Jan 18 

21 

Mar 1 

17 

20 

27 

July 3 

13 

Aug 2 

17 

Sept 13 

Oct 28 

Nov 15 

Dec 15 


Acadia 


710 

454 

664 

1318 

1018 

141 

301 

948 

374 

1112 

1275 

1336 

785 

898 


9 

7 

6 

29 

20 

10 

6 

7 

10 
40 
39 
19 
20 


Melb'ne 

Sydney 

Ditto 

Melb'ne 

Ditto 

P. Natal 

C.Town 

Melb'ne 

Ad'laide 

Melb'ne 

Ditto 

Ditto 

Ditto 

Ditto 


Gibbs, Bright, & Co 
E. Thompson 

Ditto 
J. Baines & Co 
J. M. Walthew 
Lamport & Holt 
J. Aitkin & Son 
Kelso & Co 
Jas. Dowie 
Gibbs, Bright, & Col 
Kelso & Co. 

Ditto 
J. M. Walthew 
J. Baines & Co 


Saxon King 

Lady Head 

Electric 

Caspian 


Princeza 


Anna 


Mornington 

Bristow 


Resolute 


Earl of Eglinton.. 
Princess Royal... 
Victory 


Medina 




11334 


222 



27 



GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION. 



Date. 



Jan 



Feb 
Mar 



5 

9 

19 

20 

27 

Apr 15 

24 

May 21 

June 1 

3 

9 

16 

24 

July 1 

9 

27 

Aug 24 

Sep 3 

16 

23 

16 

30 



Oct 
Nov 



Dec 



Ship's Name. 

Switzerland 

Empress Eugenie 

Arabian 

Northern Light 
Herald of Morn'g 

llising Sun 

Castilian 

Gipsy Bride 

Utopian 

Africa 

Aurifera 

Indian Queen ... 

Frenchman 

David M'lver ... 

Conway 

Alfred 

Bee 

Golianda 

Edward Oliver... 
Mary Pleasant. 
John and Lucy. . . 
Melbourne .... 
Shooting Star . 
Admiral Lyons 
Annie Wilson . 

North 

Jessie Munn.... 

Vocalist 

Dirigo 

Monica 



Tons. 



P'sngrs 



640 

875 
1068 
1283 
1355 

830 
1248 
1487 

947 
1400 

490 
1850 
1155 

917 
1195 
1278 
1325 
1124 
1167 

786 
1235 
1062 
1518 
1133 
1191 
1238 

834 
1004 
1152 
1346 



34160 11746 



238 
339 
365 
426 
450 
324 
430 
514 
342 
463 
230 
402 
416 
377 
426 
434 
425 
878 
481 
278 
394 
393 
417 
448 
391 
415 
298 
413 
412 
427 



Destina'n. Owners and Brokers. 



Sydney 
Melb'ne 

Ditto 
Sydney 

Ditto 
Melb'ne 
Sydney 
C. Town 
Ad'laide 
Melb'ne 
AlgoaB. 

Ditto 
Ad'laide 
Sydney 
Melb'ne 
M'tonB. 

Ditto 
Sydney 
Table B. 
Sydney 
Melb'ne 
Ad'laide 
Melb'ne 
Sydney 
Melb'ne 
Ad'laide 
Melb'ne 
AlgoaB 

Melb'ne 
Ditto 



J. Baines & Co 
W. D. Jacob 
Wilson & Chambers 

Ditto 

Ditto 
J. Baines & Co 
E. Thompson 
J. Baines & Co 

Ditto 

Ditto 
— Fox 

J. Baines & Co 
A. Stoddart 
J. Baines & Co 

Ditto 
Farnworth&Jardine 
E. Thompson 
Wilson & Chambers 
Fernie Brothers 
J. Baines & Co 

Ditto 
Daunt & Co 
Currie & Co 
A. Stoddart 
Wilson & Chambers 
Coubrough & Co 
Wilson & Chambers 
Fernie Brothers 
Wilson & Chambers 
J. Baines & Co 



THE STEAM NAVIGATION OF LIVEEPOOL. 



This kingdom has greatly surpassed all other countries, 
in the energy and success with which it has applied steam 
navigation, to the commerce and intercourse of the sea and 
the ocean; and Liverpool has taken a most active and 
-conspicuous part, in promoting this great branch of national 



28 

enterprise. Of the four million and a-half of tons of ship- 
ping, which paid dock dues in the port of Liverpool, in the 
year 1858, upwards of one million and a-half — or one- 
third of the whole — consisted of steamers. A variety of 
powerful causes combine, to give this country a decided 
superiority, in this most perfect and powerful of all means 
of maritime communication. The most important of these 
causes are: — First, the abundance and cheapness of capital, 
which renders it comparatively easy to procure the means 
of constructing even the most expensive class of steamers, 
some of which cost from £100,000 to £150,000, not to 
cite the case of that prodigy — the Leviathan or Great 
Eastern, which has cost nearly three quarters of a million ; 
second, the great mechanical skill of our engine-builders 
and mechanists, who are able to supply the most perfect 
marine engines and machinery, which have yet been pro- 
duced ; third, the cheapness and abundance of iron, which 
gives our shipbuilders the choice of constructing their 
ships of iron or of wood, as may be most suitable to the 
purposes, for which they are built ; fourth, the prodigious 
amount of personal communication, from this country, to the 
other parts of the empire, in the most remote regions of the 
world, as well as to all foreign countries; and, fifth, the im- 
mense value, and great variety, of the articles exported from 
and imported into this country, amounting to upwards of 
three hundred millions sterling in yearly value, and furnish- 
ing a large supply of those finer and more valuable kinds 
of merchandise, which will alone bear the cost of transport 
by steam. These are amongst the most powerful causes 
which have led to the great extension of British steam 
navigation, which has been witnessed during the last twenty 



29 

years ; and of these causes, the fourth, and fifth — namely, 
the great amount of personal communication with other 
countries, and the great value and variety of the articles 
imported and exported, to and from this country, joined to 
a general spirit of commercial and maritime enterprise, 
have had the principal influence, in fixing so large a portion 
of the steam navigation of England, in the port of Liver- 
pool. According to the last official account, the number 
of steamers, registered at Liverpool, was 203, at the com- 
mencement of January, 1858; but this does not include 
the British and North American Koyal Mail Steamers, 
which are registered in the Clyde, though they have now 
sailed from Liverpool for upwards of eighteen years, nor 
many others, which are built and registered in other ports, 
and which are employed in trading between those ports and 
the river Mersey. 

The vessels engaged in the steam trade of Liverpool, 
include every variety of steamer now afloat, from the light 
ferry steamer, which darts across the Mersey in a few 
minutes, to the finest ocean steamer, which steams across 
the Atlantic, in defiance of winds and storms, maintaining 
the communication between the old world and the new, 
with a swiftness, safety, and regularity, which have excited 
the admiration and applause of all nations. 



THE STEAM COASTING TRADE. 

On the coasts of England, Scotland, and Wales there 
is an almost daily communication from the river Mersey, to 
the Clyde in one direction, and to the Thames in another ; 
*c2 



30 



whilst on the coasts of Ireland there is scarcely a port on 
the east, west, north, or south, which is not in regular com- 
munication with the port of Liverpool. 

From the commencement of steam navigation, there have 
been regular and powerful lines of steamers to Greenock, 
and Glasgow, both for the purposes of business, connected 
with that flourishing port and city ; and also as an easy 
method of access for tourists, to the beauties of Loch 
Lomond, and the wild magnificence of the Western High- 
lands. In the summer months, the steamers from Liverpool, 
are in regular communication with other lines from the 
Clyde, which pass through the Kyles of Bute, the Crinan and 
the Caledonian canals, and the Great Caledonian lochs, to 
Inverness. Now that the railway from Inverness to 
Aberdeen, is finished, this line will be more used than ever, 
as the whole circuit of the Highlands may now be made 
by the power of steam. There is, also, a regular line of 
steam communication, between Liverpool and several points 
in the West of Scotland, as Ayr, Wigton, and the Water 
of Annan. 

South of the Solway, there are lines of steamers to Car- 
lisle, by Silloth Bay, affording an easy access to Newcastle 
and the Border ; and also by way of Whitehaven. Three 
lines of steamers from Liverpool touch at Whitehaven, 
giving the tourist an easy access, at different points of the 
coast -railway, to the western end of Derwentwater, 
Buttermere, and Wastewater ; and, in the summer months, 
lines of steamers ply from Liverpool to Ulverston and Lan- 
caster, throwing open, at a trifling cost, the beautiful scenery 
of Coniston and Windermere. 

During the whole year, the Isle of Man is accessible 



31 

,by steam, always to Douglas, and generally to Kamsey ; and 
in the summer months, thousands of tourists visit its 
.romantic bays, its Norwegian and Norman ruins, and its 
commanding headlands, for health and pleasure. 

South of the Mersey, a regular and almost daily commu- 
nication is maintained with all the principal points on the 
<joast of Wales. There are lines of steamers to the south 
bank of the Dee, at Mostyn, Holywell, and Bagillt ; to the 
foot of the Vale of Clwyd, at Rhyl ; to the grand scenery of 
the Ormshead, at Llandudno ; to the walls and ruins of 
Conway, and the wild scenery on the banks of that river; and, 
above all, to the Menai Strait, full of natural beauty and of 
historic interest, from the ruins of Beaumaris to the grander 
ruins of Caernarvon, and forming a beautiful approach to 
the magnificence and grandeur of Snowdon. Beyond the 
straits there are lines of steamers from Liverpool to Portma- 
doc, at the foot of the Vale of Festiniog ; to Aberystwith, at 
the base of Plinlimmon, to Milford Haven, to Swansea, and 
to Cardiff, all on the course to Bristol. There are also 
lines of steamers from Liverpool to London, calling at the 
principal ports on the south coast of England, and amongst 
them at Penzance, Falmouth, Plymouth, Portsmouth, 
Cowes, and Southampton. There is likewise a line of 
steamers to the Channel Islands, which calls at Falmouth 
and Plymouth. 

THE STEAM TRADE WITH IRELAND. 

There are two powerful and well organized lines of 
steamers from Liverpool to Dublin. Proceeding down 
the Irish coast, southward, there are also lines to Wexford, 



32 



Waterford, and to the noble harbour and fine city of Cork, 
from which point there is an easy access to the Lakes of 
Killarney. North of Dublin, there are lines to Drogheda, 
Dundalk, and Newry. There are three lines to Belfast, the 
manufacturing capital of Ireland, and one to Londonderry. 
On the west coast there are Lines of steamers to and from 
Sligo, Westport, Ballina, Limerick, and the banks of the 
Shannon. 

The several lines of steamers employed in keeping up 
the communication between the port of Liverpool, and the 
numerous places above mentioned, paid dock dues last 
year on 1,200,000 tons of shipping; and, taking into 
account both their goings and comings, they represent a 
movement of nearly two and a-half million tons of ship- 
ping and goods, and of more than 100,000 passengers. 
These steamers, with about half a million tons of sailing 
coasters, supply the means, by which a large portion of the 
foreign commodities, brought to Liverpool, are forwarded to 
various parts of the United Kingdom ; and by which the 
produce of the coasts, and a portion of that of the interior, 
is brought to Liverpool, either to feed the artizans of the 
Midland and North-western Districts, or to be shipped, 
along with passengers and emigrants — English, Scotch, 
Irish, Welsh, and German — to the distant regions of the 
globe. 

The competition of the numerous and powerful railways 
— the first of which originated on the banks of the Mersey, 
and many others of which (though originated in distant 
parts of England) have made their way, step by step, and 
at enormous cost, to Liverpool and Birkenhead — has 
exposed the coasting steamers of Great Britain to a severe 



33 

competition ; though it is probable, all their influences be- 
ing considered, that they create more business, even for 
coasters, than they destroy. These inland lines of commu- 
nication will be described in the course of these sketches ; 
and, for the present, it is only necessary to add, on this 
subject, that coasting steamers still hold their ground, and 
form one of the principal means of preserving and extend- 
ing the commerce both of Liverpool and of London. This, 
however, is only one of several branches of steam naviga- 
tion and the steam trade, which have sprung up in Liver- 
pool, during the last twenty years. 



STEAM TRADE WITH THE CONTINENT AND THE 
MEDITERRANEAN. 

The western coasts of Great Britain, and the coasts of 
Ireland are not more regularly, although more frequently, 
visited by Liverpool steamers, than the coasts of Europe, 
from the mouth of the Elbe, at Hamburg, to Constanti- 
nople and the Bosphorus. There are now regular lines of 
steamers from Liverpool to the entrance of the Muese and 
the Bhine at Botterdam, of the Scheldt at Antwerp, of the 
Seine at Havre, of the Loire at Nantes, of the Oharente at 
Charente, and of the Garonne at Bourdeaux. Along the 
coasts of Spain and Portugal there are Liverpool lines of 
steamers to San Sebastian, Bilboa, Santander, Corunna, 
Carril, and Vigo ; to Oporto and Lisbon ; to Cadiz, 
to Malaga, Carthagena, Alicante, Valencia, and 
Barcelona ; and to the south of France, at Mar- 
seilles. Along the coasts of Italy and Sicily there is 



34 

scarcely a port which is not visited by Liverpool 
steamers. They touch regularly at Genoa and Leghorn, 
and occasionally at Civita Vecchia. They also call regu- 
larly at Naples, Messina, Palermo, Ancona, and Trieste. In 
the Ionian Islands, Greece, and European Turkey, they 
call at Corfu, at the Piraeus of Athens, Salonica, Syra, in the 
Archipelago, and Constantinople. In Asiatic Turkey they 
ascend the Black Sea, as far as Trebizonde, which for two 
thousand years has been the principal point of communica- 
tion with Persia. They touch at Smyrna, the capital of Asia 
Minor ; at Alexandretta, the port of Aleppo, the capital of 
Northern Syria, and at Beirout, the port of Damascus; ulti- 
mately proceeding to Alexandria. In their goings and comings 
they call continually at the three great British positions in 
the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu. The places 
above enumerated include almost every port, of any com- 
mercial activity, in the Mediterranean. The southern shore 
of that sea, once the scene of the commerce of Carthage, 
is now a wilderness and a den of robbers, except at 
Algeria, where the French have partially established order, 
but have rigorously excluded commercial freedom. 

Liverpool is now the western starting point, of the new 
Bussian line of steamers to Odessa. 



THE STEAM TRADE ALONG THE COAST OF AFRICA. 

The African Koyal Mail Steamers, which were origin- 
ated chiefly by the enterprise of Liverpool men, now run 
monthly from the port of Liverpool. These fine vessels 
oall at the following places : — at the Islands of Madeira 



35 

and Teneriffe, at Goree, at Sierra Leone, at Monrovia, at 
Cape Coast Castle, at Accra, at Lagos, at Bonny, at Old 
Calabar, at Cameroons, at Fernando Po, and, for passengers, 
at Bathurst. These are all the principal trading points, 
along a coast 1,500 miles in length, extending from the 
river Gambia to the Bight of Biafra. There is already a 
large, and valuable trade in palm oil on this coast, which, 
with other articles of African produce, and the ships which 
convey them and the returns for them, yields a revenue 
of £7,258 to the docks. There is no product of tropical 
climates which this rich country, and the docile and much 
injured people who inhabit it, cannot and will not produce, 
provided the peaceful pursuits of industry are not dis- 
turbed and defeated by the machinations of man-stealers, 
hunting for slaves. The establishment of a line of steamers 
along this coast will, it is to be hoped, prove equally useful, 
in promoting legitimate trade, and in exposing and putting 
down man-stealing and murder. 

THE STEAM TRADE WITH AMERICA. 

There are three lines of steamships from Liverpool to 
America. 

The first consists of the British and North American 
Koyal Mail Steamers, which have now made the vdgage 
across the Atlantic, for a period of eighteen years, with per- 
fect success, and unfailing regularity. Liverpool and New 
York may be considered the head-quarters of this line of 
steamers, although they start for Boston, on alternate 
voyages, and call at Halifax, to land her Majesty's mails. 
No places could have been better chosen, for New York is 



36 

the real capital of the United States, and both that city 
and Boston are well situated for intercourse with the 
interior; whilst Halifax possesses a fine harbour, and forms 
a central position, for communication with Nova Scotia, 
New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward's Island, 
and the lower portion of Canada, all of which have impor- 
tant interests, in connection with the mother country, as 
well as with the commerce of Liverpool. 

A second line of steamers, consisting of powerful 
screw steam-ships, performs the voyage from Liverpool to 
New York, proceeding thence southward to Philadelphia ; 
which has also a great trade of its own, besides afford- 
ing easy access, by railway, to the Southern and Central 
States. 

A third line of steamships runs to Portland, in the 
State of Maine, whence it communicates with Quebec and 
Montreal, by railway, and with Upper Canada, and 
the Northern States of the American Union, by the 
St. Lawrence, which is now one of the greatest and most 
perfect lines of water communication in the world, and is 
becoming the principal highway into the interior of the 
North American Continent, 

The Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which keeps 
up the principal communication along the west coast of 
South America, is also a Liverpool Company. Its ships 
are of the highest class, and furnish the best means of 
communication from Panama to Valparaiso, calling at the 
chief ports of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, along 
a coast some thousand miles in length. 

We find the following statement, as to the comparative 
speed, of the different lines of steamers, plying between 



37 



Europe and America, in one of the London papers at the 
commencement of the present year : 

Screw and Paddle Steamers Across the Atlantic. — Much 
dispute has arisen about the comparative length of the eastern and 
■western passages, across the North Atlantic, by paddle and screw 
steamers, to and from different ports, in this country and in North 
America. During the year just ended, 281 North Atlantic voyages were 
made by the mail and passenger steamers. The following was the 
average of the eastern voyages of each line of steamers, viz., from New 
York to Liverpool by Cunard's (the British and North American Royal 
Mail steamers), 10 days 20 hours; Collins', 11 days 14 hours; Liverpool 
screws, 13 days 3 hours. To Southampton, by Croskey's, 12 days 19 
hours; Vanderbilt's, 12 days 10 hours; Hamburg screws, 12 days 22 
hours; Bremen screws, 13 days 14 hours. To Glasgow, by the Glasgow 
screws, 14 days 10 hours. To Gal way, via Newfoundland, by Lever's, 
16 days. From Boston to Liverpool, by Cunard's, 11 days 8 hours; and 
from Portland to Liverpool, by the Portland screws, 12 days 20 hours. — 
The following was the average of the western passages of each line of 
steamers, viz., from Liverpool to New York, by Cunard's, 12 days 13 
hours; by Collins', 14 days 16 hours; Liverpool screws, 13 days 21 
hours. From Southampton, by Croskey's, 13 days 8 hours; Vanderbilt's, 
13 days 16 hours ; Hamburg screws, 13 days 21 hours; Bremen screws, 
15 days 14 hours. From Glasgow, by the Glasgow screws, 15 days 14 
hours. From Galway, via Newfoundland, by Lever's, 15 days 21 hours. 
From Liverpool to Boston, by Cunard's, 12 days 6 hours; to Portland, 
by the Portland screws, 12 days 20 hours. During the past year, two 
of the North Atlantic steamers were lost, viz., the New York and 
Austria; the Arabia and Europa came into collision; the City of Baltimore 
was obliged to put into Halifax to repair machinery, and the Ariel to 
put into the same port short of coals. Forty steamers were employed in 
performing the 281 voyages; and these ships ran a distance, throughout 
the year, of a million miles; burned 150,000 tons of coal; carried 
upwards of 50,000 passengers, who paid about £800,000 passage money. 
Out of the 50,000 passengers, nearly 500 lost their lives in crossing the 
Atlantic. 

The great loss of life, mentioned above, was caused by 
the burning of the Austria, one of the Hamburg steamers. 
No lives were lost in the collision of the Arabia and 
Europa, which took place in a dense fog. In giving the 



38 



above statement, however, we must add, that regularity 
and safety are of as much consequence as speed ; and that,, 
in those respects, as well as in speed, the Liverpool 
steam-ships are second to none on the ocean. 



THE STEAM- SHIP TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA. 

Some of the largest steam-ships on the ocean, amongst 
which we may mention the Great Britain and the Eoyal 
Charter, join with the lines of swift clippers, in maintaining 
the communication from Liverpool to Australia ; but much 
the greater part of the passenger trade to Australia and 
New Zealand is carried on in those beautiful clipper sailing 
ships, which have secured to the port of Liverpool a large 
share of the trade with those countries, and which have 
already been spoken of. 



SUMMARY OF THE STEAM TRADE OF LIVERPOOL. 

The above are regular lines of steamers, but there is 
also a considerable casual trade in steam vessels from 
Liverpool. The following is an account of the amounts of 
steam tonnage which entered and cleared from Liverpool 
in 1857, and of all the countries from which it arrived, and 
to which it proceeded. 

The amount which entered the port was as follows : — 
From Eussia, northern ports, 1,040 tons ; Prussia, 762 
Hanse Towns, 8,704; Holland, 18,787; France, 45,809 
Portugal, Azores, and Madeira, 18,060; Spain, 17,759 



39 

Fernando Po, 828; Sardinia, 18,627; Tuscany, 2,808; 
Papal Territories, 1,624; Two Sicilies, 2,088; Austria, 
22,536; Greece, 2,275; Turkey, 36,261; Syria, 4,313; 
Egypt, 18,353; United States, 143,147; Brazil, 847; 
West Coast of Africa, 3,988 ; Malta, 972 ; North American 
Colonies, 16,047; Australia, 6,061; making the total 
steam tonnage which entered the port, from foreign countries 
and the colonies, 391,697. 

In the same year there cleared from Liverpool, for 
foreign countries and the colonies, the following amount of 
steam tonnage : — To Russia, northern ports, 1,520 tons ; 
Denmark, 435; Prussia, 950; Hanse Towns, 8,106; 
Holland, 16,729; France, 40,325 ; Portugal and Madeira, 
18,867; Spain, 22,923; Sardinia, 25,457; Papal Terri- 
tories, 812; Austria, 23,073; Turkey, 19,733; Syria, 
2,046; Egypt, 15,121; United States, 138,456; St. 
Thomas, 230; Brazil, 847; Uruguay, 150; West Coast of 
Africa, 2,208; Arabia, 71; Gibraltar, 2,700; Malta, 
19,300; Ionian Islands, 584; North American Colonies, 
18,276; West Indies, 1,030; Australia, 3,897; Hong 
Kong, 2,626; East Indies, 3,126; Ceylon, 500; Cape of 
Good Hope, 1,007; making the total amount of steam 
tonnage cleared 391,113. 

The total steam tonnage which entered and cleared for 
foreign countries, in 1857, was thus 782,720 tons. 

NUMBER, TONNAGE, AND NATIONALITY OF THE SHIPS 
WHICH SAILED FROM LIVERPOOL, IN THE YEAR 1858. 

The number of the vessels of all nations which cleared 
from the port of Liverpool, for foreign countries and the 



40 

colonies, from the 1st January to the 31st December, 
1858, appears from the accounts of the Custom House 
to have been 4,706 vessels, measuring 2,422,928 tons. 
Of these, the number of sailing vessels was 4,195, of 
2,059,106 tons; and of steamers, 511, of 363,822 tons. 
In comparison with the previous year, this shows a 
decrease of 297 vessels, and 113,024 tons, the number of 
sailing vessels in 1857 having been 4,466, and steamers 
537, and their capacity, 2,535,952 tons. 

In examining the nationality of the vessels which 
cleared out of the port in 1858, we find the following 
results : 

The number of the British vessels which cleared out 
to foreign countries and the British possessions abroad, 
including both steamers and sailing vessels, was 2,738, of 
1,288,207 tons, in the total of 2,422,928 tons ; the ton- 
nage of the American (United States) was 790 vessels, of 
834,635 tons; that of the French was 218 vessels, of 
34,526 tons ; that of the Prussian was 103 vessels, of 
31,155 tons; that of the Spanish was 156 vessels, of 
49,786 tons ; that of the Dutch was 101 vessels, of 18,166 
tons, and of the Belgian 94 vessels, of 17,299 tons; that 
of the Danish was 98 vessels, of 14,633 tons ; that of the 
Norwegian was 76 vessels, of 19,561 tons; that of the 
Hamburg was 44 vessels, of 12,285 tons ; that of Bremen, 
was 23 vessels, of 16,033 tons; that of the Portuguese was 
48 vessels, of 7,059 tons ; that of the Austrian was 42 ves- 
sels, of 14,640 tons; that of the Hanoverian, was 25 ves- 
sels, of 3,503 tons ; that of the Swedish was 25 vessels, 
of 6,431 tons; that of Mecklenburg and Knyphausen was 
11 vessels, of 2,549 tons; that of Sardinia, was 13 vessels, 



41 

of 3,024 tons ; that of Tuscany, was 4 vessels, of 1,067 
tons ; of the Papal States, 1 vessel of 187 tons ; of Naples 
and Sicily, 15 vessels of 3,627 tons ; of Greece, 12 vessels 
of 3,255 tons; of Morocco, 1 vessel of 110 tons ; of Tur- 
key, 24 vessels of 20,464 tons ; of Kussia, 20 vessels of 
7,693 tons; of Brazil, 3 vessels of 301 tons; of Uruguay, 
1 vessel of 314 tons ; of Chili, 1 vessel of 566 tons ; of 
Peru, 1 vessel of 301 tons. 

It will be seen, from the above figures, that the shipping 
of the United Kingdom and of the United States greatly 
preponderate over all others, in the port of Liverpool. 
In the trade with what we call foreign countries, which 
includes their own, the American sailing vessels greatly 
exceed the British in tonnage, though not in the number 
of vessels, — the American vessels being 713, and their 
capacity 755,710 tons; whilst the British vessels, though 
1,257 in number, were only 364,439 in tonnage. In the 
trade with the British Possessions abroad, which is equally 
open to both, the British shipping and tonnage is much 
the greater, the British vessels being 913, and tonnage 
531,021, whilst the American vessels are 75, and the ton- 
nage is 75,127. In steamers the ascendancy of the British 
shipping is more decided, the British steamers being 431, 
with a capacity of 323,891 tons ; the United steamers only 
2, with a burden of 3,798 tons. 

The above statement is supplied by the Liverpool Bill 
of Entry, and is, no doubt, correct, being founded on the 
Customs returns. The number of vessels which entered 
is not given, but would not be materially different ; though 
probably somewhat less, Liverpool being pre-eminently the 
shipping port of the United Kingdom. 
*2d 



42 

The following shows the numbers in a tabular form : 

SHIPS WHICH CLEARED OUT OF LIVERPOOL IN 1858. 



Sailing Vessels. 



Nations. 



Ships. 



Tons. 



Steam Ships. 



Ships. 



Tons. 



Total. 



Sailing 

and 
Steam 
Ships. 



Tonnage. 



United Kingdom.. 

Russia 

Sweden 

Norway 

Denmark 

Prussia 

Mecklenburgh ... 

Hanover 

Oldenburgh 

Hamburgh 

Bremen 

Holland 

Belgium 

France 

Spain 

Portugal 

Sardinia 

Tuscany 

Papal States 

Sicily 

Austria 

Greece 

Turkey 

Morocco 

U. S. of America. 

Brazil 

Uruguay 

Chili 

Peru 



2292 

18 

25 

76 

93 

103 

21 

25 

11 

44 

23 

99 

94 

211 

109 

48 

13 

4 

1 

15 

42 

12 

24 

788 
3 
1 
1 
1 



960052 

7038 

6431 

19561 

13332 

31155 

5621 

3389 

2549 

12285 

16033 

17272 

17229 

32638 

28145 

7059 

2484 

1067 

187 

3627 

14640 

3255 

20464 

110 

830837 

301 

314 

566 

801 



431 
2 



323891 
655 



1301 



1888 
21641 



3798 



2723 

20 

25 

76 

98 

103 

21 

25 

11 

44 

23 

99 

94 

218 

256 

48 

13 

4 

1 

15 

42 

12 

24 

790 
3 

1 
1 
1 



1,283,953 

7,693 

6,431 

19,561 

14.633 

31,155 

5,621 

3,389 

2,549 

12,285 

16,033 

17,272 

17,229 

34,526 

49,786 

7,059 

2,484 

1,067 

187 

3,627 

14,640 

3,255 

20,464 

110 

834,635 

301 

314 

566 

801 



THE COMMERCE OF LIVERPOOL WITH DIFFERENT 
COUNTRIES. 



The commerce of Liverpool is derived from, and its 
shipping employed in, the trade of every country on the 



43 

face of the globe. Those countries are divided into twelve 
groups, in the statistical statements of the Mersey Docks 
and Harbour Board, and it will be convenient to follow 
that arrangement, in giving a brief sketch of the present 
extent, and of the recent progress, of the trade with each 
of those countries. We shall afterwards give a sketch of 
some of the principal trades of the port, and more 
especially of the cotton, corn, and timber trades, which are 
the greatest in extent and value. 

The twelve countries or groups, into which the trade of 
the port is divided, in the statistical statements of the Dock 
Board, with the amount yielded by each, in the year 1858, 
were as follows : — The United States of America, £137,156 ; 
East Indies and China, £-18,650 ; the Countries on the 
shores of the Mediterranean, £35,634; British America 
and Newfoundland, £32,353 ; the Continent of Europe, 
from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, £17,629 ; the West 
Indies and Gulf of Mexico, £17,124 ; the Brazils and the 
Eiver Plate, £13,855; the West Coast of America, 
£11,128; the West Coast of Africa, £7,258 ; the coun- 
tries on the Baltic, £6,327 ; Australia and New Zealand, 
£6,144; to which we add the Coasting Trade of the British 
Islands, £28,671, making a total of £363,935. 

THE TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES. 

The trade with the United States stands first, from the 
vastness of its extent, and the great amount of shipping 
which it employs. 

The yearly value of the imports into the United King- 
dom from the United States, according to the last Annual 



44 

Statement of Trade and Navigation, was £33,647,227; 
and the value of the exports was £18,552,857 of British 
products, besides £433,082 to California, and £1,072,538 
of foreign products, making a total of £53,705,704 a year. 
This immense trade gave employment, in the same year, to 
2,749 ships, of 2,631,805 tons. Of this vast trade, at least 
three-fourths was carried on through the port of Liverpool. 
The shipping which entered the port of Liverpool from the 
United States, in that year, amounted to 934 vessels, of 
983,403 tons; and that which cleared, to 842 vessels, of 
928,584 tons. The average size of these vessels was 
upwards of 1,000 tons each; and that of many of the 
steamers was from 2,500 to 3,000 tons each, and, in some 
cases, 3,500 tons. 

According to the accounts of the Liverpool Dock 
Estate the amount paid by the shipping and the merchan- 
dise in the trade with the United States, was £137,156, 
out of a total sum of £363,035, received that year for dues 
on tonnage and merchandise, or more than one- third of the 
whole. 

The rapid growth, as well as the prodigious extent of 
the trade with the United States of America, are well 
shown in these accounts. In the year 1842, the amount 
derived from the dues on tonnage, in the American trade, 
and goods received from, and shipped to the United 
States, was £66,728, whilst last year they produced 
£137,156. The smallest amount which the trade with the 
United States, including shipping and goods, has yielded to 
the dock estate of Liverpool, in any year since 1842, is 
£74,268. 

The amounts of the last three years, which are much 



45 



the largest of the whole period, were as follows : — 
In 1856, £153,958; in 1857, £173,414; and in 1858, 
£137,156. 

The following table of dues paid, will show the yearly 
fluctuations, and the permanent progress, of the trade of 
the United States with Liverpool, from 1842 to 1858: — 



Year. 


Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 




£ 


s. 


a. 




£ 


s. 


d. 


1842 


66,748 


16 


ii 


1851 


98,000 


9 


8 


1843 


90,571 


1 


4 


1852 


102,649 


17 


2 


1844 


77,029 


8 


6 


1853 


124,554 


7 


10 


1845 


99,285 


11 


9 


1854 


148,565 


15 


5 


1846 


87,057 


1 


10 


1855 


113,914 


16 


8 


1847 


112,458 


17 


2 


1856 


150,958 


3 


11 


1848 


91,707 





3 


1857 


173,414 


16 


2 


1849 


103,854 


8 


11 


1858 


137,156 


5 


2 


1850 


74,268 


1 














THE EAST INDIA AND CHINA TRADE. 



The trade with India and China is also of great extent, 
and has increased rapidly in magnitude. In 1857 the 
value of the imports into the United Kingdom from the 
British East Indies, was £18,650,223; from Singapore, 
£940,181; from Ceylon, £1,503,897; from Mauritius, 
£2,288,188; from the Cape, £1,705,543; from Natal, 
£88,174 ; and from China, £11,448,639. These, with the 
exception of the Cape and Natal, are the countries which 
were formerly included within the limits of the East India 
Company. The value of their imports was £36,799,035. 
The value of the British and foreign merchandise exported 
to them, in the same year, was as follows : — British mer- 



46 



chandise to East Indies, £11,666,714; to Singapore, 
£896,282; to Ceylon, £516,657; to Aden, £37,367; to 
Mauritius, £663,554; to the Cape, £1,720,092; to Natal, 
£120,546; to China, £1,728,885; and to Hong Kong, 
£721,097:— Total, £19,944,084. The balance of nearly 
£17,000,000 was paid in silver. 

The trade with the East Indies from the port of Liver- 
pool, which did not exist previous to the first relaxation of 
the East India Company's Charter, in 1814, and that with 
China, which did not exist until after the abolition of the 
trading powers of the company, in 1832, is now the second 
trade of the port, and is increasing more rapidly at the 
present time than it ever did before. 

In 1842, the tonnage and merchandise engaged in the 
East India and China trade, produced to the dock estate, 
a revenue of £18,099; and in 1858, they produced 
£48,650. The smallest amount which the India and 
China trade have produced, in any year since 1842, was 
£14,529, in 1848, — a year of great commercial distress. 
The income from this trade, in each of the last three years, 
was— in 1856, £37,277; in 1857, £43,178; and in 1858, 
£48,650. 



Year. 


Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 


1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 


£ s. d. 
18,899 1 
18,441 10 10 
17,984 14 5 
21,330 15 
17,511 4 1 
15,295 10 7 
14,529 2 8 
16,327 2 9 
16,800 16 9 


1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 


£ S. d. 
21,189 2 2 
19,314 12 3 
21,910 17 7 
24,508 12 
25,396 13 3 
37,277 2 2 
43,178 8 7 
48,650 12 11 



47 



THE TRADE WITH THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

Next in the amount of revenue which it produces to 
the dock estate, is the trade with the Mediterranean, the 
Adriatic, and the Black Sea. The wonderful development 
of the steam navigation of Liverpool in these seas, from 
Gibraltar to Trebizonde, almost on the frontiers of Persia, 
has caused a very rapid increase in the revenue from this 
source. In 1842 this branch of trade produced an income 
of £14,256; in 1858 of £35,634. The smallest yearly 
amount which it has yielded, since the former date, was in 
1844, when it produced £12,675. The revenue of the 
three last years was as follows :— £30,531 in 1856 ; £32,361 
in 1857, and 35,634 in 1858. The amount of each year's 
revenue, from 1842 to 1858, was: — 



Tear. 


Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 




£ s. 


d. 




£ s. 


d. 


1842 


14,256 8 


10 


1851 


21,386 8 


10 


1843 


14,310 2 


6 


1852 


22,511 5 


9 


1844 


12,675 14 


4 


1853 


18,729 13 


4 


1845 


14,040 15 


8 


1854 


23,113 10 


2 


1846 


16,909 1 


8 


1855 


23,822 12 





1847 


17,405 9 





1856 


30,531 18 


8 


1848 


13,434 19 


9 


1857 


32,361 6 


9 


1849 


15,009 5 





1858 


35,634 13 


8 


1850 


17,098 15 


2 





















The yearly value of the exports of the United King- 
dom, to all the countries on the shores of the Medi- 
terranean, was upwards of £12,000,000 per annum,. 
(£12,452,414) in 1857; and the value of the imports was 
upwards of £15,000,000 (£15,892,674). This included 
the silk from China, brought by way of Egypt. 



48 



BRITISH NORTH AMERICA AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 

The trade with British North America, from all the 
ports of the United Kingdom, gave employment to 
1,137,553 tons of shipping inward, and 641,186 outward, 
in the year 1857. Of this quantity, 213,166 entered the 
port of Liverpool, and 311,306 cleared from it. 

The aggregate value of the imports from the British 
North American colonies, into England, in 1857, was 
£6,309,120, and that of the exports, £4,618,410. 

The dock revenue, from the trade with British America 
and Newfoundland, was £24,085 in 1842, and £34,335 in 
1858. The smallest amount which this trade produced in any 
year, in the interval between those years, was £15,282 in 
1843. The revenue of the last three years was £20,861 
in 1856; £40,730 in 1857; £34,353 in 1858. The 
return for each year of the series was as follows : — 



Year. 


Amount. 


Tear. 


Amount. 


1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 


£ S. d. 
24,085 1 10 
15,282 5 6 
22,158 6 10 
28,238 17 8 
33,096 12 6 
37,818 9 9 
25,422 13 10 
28,538 16 8 
38,615 15 9 


1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 


£ S. d. 
26,651 17 6 | 
28,077 10 
23,432 4 10 
32,609 10 8 
31,514 7 10 
30,861 1 
40,737 8 8 
34,353 3 11 



THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 



The aggregate yearly value of the imports into the 
United Kingdom, from the countries on the shores of the 
Atlantic, including Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, 



49 



Spain, and Portugal, amounted, according to the last com- 
plete account, to £34,688,657. The value of the exports 
to those countries from the United Kingdom was, of 
British products, £29,110,418; of foreign, £14,660,520; 
total, £43,770,938. 

The trade with the ports from the Mediterranean to the 
Baltic, produced to the dock estate £7,550 in 1842, and 
£17,629 in 1858. The smallest amount in the interval 
was £6,086, in 1843. The amounts of 1856, 1857, 1858, 
were £16,342 in the first of those years, £15,096 in the 
•second, and £17,629 in the third. The following was the 
amount during the whole of the period : 



Year. 


Amount. 




Year. 


Amount. 






£ S. 


d. 




£ s. 


d. 


1842 


7,550 


8 


1851 


14,891 12 


2 


1843 


6.086 19 


4 


1852 


13,655 17 


5 


1844 


6,324 18 


1 


1853 


11,881 17 


6 


1845 


6,691 10 


11 


1854 


13,554 14 


4 


1846 


8,352 4 


8 


1855 


12,542 5 


8 


1847 


10,208 10 


2 


1856 


16,342 17 


2 


| 1848 


8,153 16 


6 


1857 


15,096 14 


4 


; 1849 


8,774 14 


2 


1858 


17,629 9 


3 


1850 


10,189 12 


9 









THE WEST INDIES AND THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

The value of the imports into the United Kingdom from 
the British West Indies in 1857 was £5,223,634 ; from the 
foreign West Indies £3,471,333. The value of the exports 
to the British West Indies was £1,830,413 of British 
produce, and £204,403 foreign ; and to the foreign West 
Indies £1,865,667 of British produce, and £51,522 of 
foreign. The value of the imports from Mexico, Central 
America, New Granada, and Venezuela was £1,161.663, 
and that of the exports to those countries £1,893,233. 



50 



The trade with the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico 
contributed £9,338 to the dock revenue in 1842, and 
£17,124 in 1858, The lowest year of the series was 1853, 
when the amount was £10,104. The amount in each of 
the last three years was as follows: — In the year 1856, 
£13,141 ; in the year 1857, £15,269 ; and in the year 1858, 
£17,124. The following is the amount of each year : 



Year 


Amount. 


Year. Amount. 


1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 


£ S. d. 

9,338 5 3 

11,933 12 3 

12,227 7 

12.058 16 1 
11,334 17 10 
13,134 15 2 
10,543 15 2 
11,687 18 10 

12.059 4 4 


> 1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 


£ s. d. i 
12,295 4 8 
11,368 15 10 
10,104 1 
10,874 6 8 
12,850 12 3 
13,141 13 6 
15,269 19 2 
17,124 11 9 



BRAZIL AND THE RIVER PLATE. 

The value of the total imports from Brazil into the United 
Kingdom in 1857 was £3,502,324; of the exports thereto, 
£5,541,710 of British produce, and £220,972 of foreign. 
The value of the imports from Uruguay was £742,769, 
and from Buenos Ayres £1,513,558 ; whilst the value of the 
exports to the former was £515,902 of British and £17,064 
of foreign produce, and to the latter, £1,287,006 of British, 
and £55,413 of foreign. 

The trade of Brazil and the Biver Plate produced the 
sum of £7,681, to the dock estate, in 1842, and £13,974 
in 1858. In 1855 the trade produced only £6,167. During 
the last three years it produced as follows: — £14,145 in 
1856 ; £13,974 in 1857 ; and £13,855 in 1858. 



51 



The following is the return from 1842 to 1858 : 



Year. 


Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 


1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 


£ s. d. 
7,681 13 2 
7,567 18 10 
8,017 11 2 
7,727 2 6 
7,0 J 9 12 4 
7,746 13 3 
6,167 7 9 
9,248 6 9 
8,889 9 10 


1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

! 1857 

1858 


£ s. d. 

8,851 

9,069 16 3 

8,443 13 9 

9,150 7 8 

10,204 7 3 

12,145 5 6 

13,974 2 8 

13,855 3 6 



THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA. 



The total value of the imports from Chili was £l 93,268 ; 
from Peru, £4,412,599 ; from Bolivia, £32,418 ; and from 
Ecuador, £62,037 : total in 1857, £4,700,322. The value of 
the exports to Chili was £1,520,678 of British, and £48,175 
foreign ; to Peru, £1,171,864 British, and £28,555 foreign ; 
and to Ecuador £23,731 of British, and £438 foreign 
produce. This trade paid to the docks only £3,100 14s. 
4d. in 1842, and £11,128 19s. 2d. in 1858. It produced 
the following amounts in the three last years : — £9,026 
17s. 7d. in 1856; £8,241 18s. lOd. in 1857 ; and £11,128 
19s. 2d. in 1858. The yearly return was as follows : 



Year. 


Amount. 




Year. 


Amount. 




£ S. 


P. 




£ S. D. 


1842 


3,100 14 


4 


1851 


8,2U6 14 1 


1843 


3,627 10 


11 


1852 


8,339 8 11 


1844 


3.934 71 


2 


1853 


4,917 9 2 


1845 


4,014 10 


11 


1854 


5,925 4 11 


1846 


3,018 15 


8 


1855 


7,489 15 10 


1847 


4,195 17 


2 


1856 


9,026 15 17 


1848 


2,939 4 





1857 


8,241 18 10 


1849 


3,012 4 





1858 


11,128 19 2 


1850 


4,198 1 


8 







52 



THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 

The value of the imports from the West Coast of Africa 
in 1857 was £1,822,162 ; of the exports to, £766,517 of 
British, and £251,058 of foreign produce. The greater 
part of this trade is in Liverpool. 

In 1842 the trade with the West Coast of Africa pro- 
duced to the dock revenue the sum of only £3,480 ; in 
1858, £7,258. In 1850 it was £3,313 10s. 3d. ; in the 
three last years it was as follows: — £5,550 in 1855; 
£6,595 in 1856 ; and £7,258 in 1858 : 



Year. 


Amount. 


Tear. 


Amount. 


1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

i 1846 

1847 

. 1848 

1849 

1850 


£ s. d. 
2,812 6 8 
3,480 8 3 
3,941 2 10 
9,281 10 6 
5,096 9 
3,717 9 4 
3,746 3 9 
3,273 12 6 
3,113 10 3 


1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 


£ s. d. 
5,035 12 10 
4,470 17 3 
3,499 3 9 
4,931 12 8 
4,837 4 8 
5,550 16 3 
6,595 13 1 
7,258 1 1 



AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 



The value of the imports from the Australian colonies 
into the United Kingdom in 1857 (exclusive of gold) 
was as follows : — New South Whales, £2,035,386 ; Victoria,. 
£2,472,470; South Australia, £653,180; West Australia, 
£43,927; Tasmania, £563,113 ; New Zealand, £137,220, 
making the total imports into the United Kingdom from 
these colonies £5,905,296. The exports were : — To New 
South Wales, £3,130,709 British, and £465,886 foreign 
produce; Victoria, £6,649,286 British, and £861,824 



53 



foreign; South Australia, £913,117 British, and £75„493 
foreign; West Australia, £65,740 British, and £9,887 
foreign ; Tasmania, £509,242 British, and £85,737 foreign ; 
and New Zealand, £364,634 British, and £43,774 foreign. 
The trade with Liverpool has increased twelve-fold since 
1842. In that year it produced only £504, and was as low 
as £242, in the interval. In the last three years it produced 
as follows :— £5,929 in 1856 ; £7,091 in 1857 ; and £6,144 
in 1858. The yearly return was as follows : 



Year. Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 


1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 


£ s. d. 
504 19 7 
428 7 4 
242 15 5 
747 5 1 
612 11 7 
414 2 3 
325 19 3 
387 1 1 
438 8 6 


£ s. d. 

1851 ! 654 12 4 

1852 ! 1,084 15 8 

1953 I 4,472 3 11 

1854 ! 4,437 4 8 

1855 | 4.964 8 1 

1S56 i 5,929 19 10 

1857 7,091 6 4 

1858 6,144 19 5 



THE COUNTRIES ON THE BALTIC. 



The aggregate amount of the trade of the United 
Kingdom with the Baltic is very large. The imports in 
1857, were £20,568,795, the exports £6,529,300. This 
trade, however, was in a somewhat exceptional state, 
owing to the recent close of the war with Kussia ; hut under 
ordinary circumstances the trade with the Baltic is large, 
though the share of Liverpool is less than that of London 
and Hull. 

The Baltic trade, in 1842, produced £7,398 10s. 7d.; 
in 1858, £6,329 18s. Id. Its lowest point (in time of 
*e2 



54 



peace) between those years was in 1848, when it produced 
£5,466 14s. lOd. ; its largest was inl854, when it pro- 
duced £9,456 2s. 7d. : 



Tear. 


Amount. 




Year. 


Amount. 




£ S. 


d. 




£ s. d. 


1842 


7,398 10 


•/ 


1851 


7,480 18 11 


1843 


6,992 11 


o 


1852 


7,678 4 


1844 


7,499 1 





1853 


5,535 6 9 


1845 


7,890 18 


5 


1854 


9,456 2 7 


1846 


7,871 5 


4 


1855 


3,205 4 10 


1847 


6,859 3 


2 


1856 


4,334 14 11 


1848 


5,466 14 


10 


1857 


5,528 17 3 


1849 


7,227 18 


1 


1858 


6,329 18 1 


1850 


7,563 9 


9 







THE COASTING TRADE. 

The coasting trade, in 1842, produced a revenue to the 
docks of £17,456 12s. 8d., and in 1858 of £28,671 6s. 
The smallest amount in any one year was in 1843, when it 
amounted to £18,899 18s. lOd. ; the largest was in 1857, 
when it amounted to £30,194 7s. 7d. 



Year. 


Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 




£ S. 


d. 




£ S. 


d. 


1842 


17,456 12 


8 


1851 


23,942 6 


9 


1843 


18,899 18 


10 


1852 


26,050 


1 


1844 


19,976 9 


10 


1853 


24,686 17 


5 


1845 


21,172 16 


6 


1854 


25,693 9 


7 


1846 


21,756 18 


8 


1855 


26,205 19 


9 


1847 


23,390 13 


5 


1856 


26.294 1 


7 


1848 


23,198 2 


7 


1857 


30,194 1 


7 


1849 


24,407 4 


9 


1858 


28,671 6 


O 


1850 


26,248 9 


1 









Such are the great sources from which the revenue of 
the dock estate is derived, and it will be seen that there is 
not one of them which does not bear the most indisputable 
evidence of permanent and even rapid improvement. The 



55 



only apparent exception is in the trade with the Baltic, and 
that arises from the commercial difficulties produced in that 
trade, by the war with Russia; those difficulties have 
passed away, with the war itself, and their disappearance 
removes the single exception to the progress of the dock 
revenue, in every one of the great divisions of trade 
carried on in the port of Liverpool. 

The above twelve divisions of foreign, colonial, and 
coasting trade, include the whole commerce of Liverpool, 
and afford the means of judging of the progress of the 
trade with each country, for a period of seventeen years. 
We do not possess the means of carrying this comparison 
further back, in so complete a form ; but that is not mate- 
rial, the period of time included in these returns being 
sufficient for all useful purposes. On comparing the 
amounts which the Dock Trust of Liverpool received from 
the dues, in these various trades, in the series of years be- 
ginning in 1851, with the amounts received in the series 
commencing in 1842, it will be found that the increase is 
very great. This is especially the case in the trade with 
the countries peopled or governed by the Anglo-Saxon race 
— that is, with the United States, India, British North 
America, and Australia, and even with the West Indies, in 
spite of enormous difficulties arising from an insufficient 
supply of labour, and. the competition not only of slavery, 
but of the slave-trade. As far as the trade with those coun- 
tries is concerned, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to 
point out any cause which is at all likely to check its pro- 
gress. The trade with Europe can only be diminished by 
a general war, the risk of which is much diminished by the 
deep interest which all the nations of the continent, and 



56 



none less than France, have in the continued progress of 
commerce and industry, which are now euriching them all, 
in proportion to the freedom with which they are allowed 
to expand. The condition of some of the republics 
winch were formerly colonies of Spain, is still preca- 
rious, from political and personal strife ; hut they are all 
improving in that respect, with the single exception of 
Mexico, which is falling to pieces, hut only to be re- 
organized by more vigorous hands and abler heads. The 
Brazilian Empire is steadily advancing in prosperity, al- 
though it has had the wisdom and the virtue to abandon 
that profitable iniquity, the African slave trade ; and on the 
the coast of Africa a trade is springing up, in many 
valuable native commodities, especially in palm oil, which 
will become the means of rendering that country prosperous 
itself and useful to the world. Looking at the position 
which Liverpool holds, as one of the principal gates of 
communication between the United Kingdom and the rest 
of the world, we cannot see any reason why the next 
seventeen years should not show as great an increase in the 
commerce of the port, as is shown by the last seventeen 
years, whose progress is indicated in the preceding tables. 

THE ARTICLES IMPORTED INTO, AND EXPORTED FROM, 
THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL. 

The aggregate value of the imports and exports of 
Liverpool, as already stated, is upwards of £l 00,000,000 
per annum. Before speaking somewhat more in detail of 
a few of the principal articles, we give the last complete 
and official list of the whole. 






57 

The imports into Liverpool, in 1857, consisted of the 
following articles, with the quantities of each stated in the 
table : 

IMPORTS INTO THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL FROM ABROAD. 



Animals, living : 

Oxen, bulls, and cows number 234 

Sheep and lambs „ — 

Bones (except whalefins) tons 14,748 

Cocoa lbs. 1,006,809 

Coffee „ 7,788,523 

Corn : 

Wheat qrs. 766,751 

Barley „ 52,091 

Oats „ 16,190 

Peas „ 19,259 

Beans „ 80,909 

Indian corn or maize „ 473,580 

Wheat meal and flour cwts. 1,134,520 

Cotton, raw „ 8,078,042 

Cotton manufactures, not made up value £ 13,239 

Dyes and dyeing stuffs : 

Cochineal cwts. 665 

Indigo „ 2,933 

Madder and madder roots „ 309,735 

Flax: 

Dressed and undressed „ 11,305 

Tow or codilla of flax „ 9,670 

Fruits : 

Currants „ 153,344 

Lemons and oranges bushels 249,285 

Eaisins cwts. 74,941 

Guano tons 66,554 

Hemp cwts. 175,708 

Jute and other vegetable substances of the nature of 

undressed hemp „ 443,350 

Hides, untanned : 

Dry „ 51,518 

Wet „ 229,117 

Tanned, curried, or dressed, (except Russian hides) . lbs. 1,448,311 

Mahogany tons 13,484 

Metals : 

Copper ore and regulus . „ 22,663 

Copper, unwrought and part wrought „ 3,472 

Iron in bars, unwrought „ 973 

Spelter, unwrought and rolled „ 1,326 

Tin, unwrought cwts. 6,367 



58 

Oil: 

Train, blubber, and spermaceti tuns 5,534 

Palm cwts. 597,398 

Cocoanut „ 12,539 

Olive tuns 7,935 

Seed oil, of all kinds „ 1,388 

Oilseed cakes tons 5,831 

Provisions : 

Bacon and hams cwts. 251,548 

Beef, salted „ 68,201 

Pork, do „ 24,820 

Butter „ 3,149 

Cheese , 31,109 

Eggs cubic feet 1,348 

Lard cwts. 150,893 

Bags, and other materials, for making paper tons 342 

Bice, not in the husk cwts. 1,734,449 

Saltpetre and cubic nitre „ 363,893 

Seeds : 

Clover „ 26,508 

Flaxseed and linseed qrs. 106,663 

Bapeseed „ 47,536 

Silk, raw lbs. 346,379 

„ thrown „ 10,677 

Silk manufactures of Europe : 

Broad stuffs „ 766 

Bibbons „ 571 

Silk manufactures of India : 

Bandannas, corahs, choppas, tussore cloths, romals, 

and taffaties pieces 2,197 

Spices : 

Pepper lbs. 821,481 

Pimento cwts. 4,465 

Spirits : 

Bum gallons 1,362,552 

Brandy „ 320,421 

Geneva „ 50,480 

Sugar, unrefined : 

1st quality (equal to white clayed) cwts. 20,143 

2nd quality (not equal to white, but equal to brown 

clayed).." „ 535,578 

3rd quality fnot equal to brown clayed) „ 1 , 1 2 ] ,2 08 

Total of sugar, unrefined „ 1,676,929 

„ refined, and sugar candy „ 89,423 

„ molasses „ 375,768 

Tallow „ 192,778 

Tea lbs. 8,439,711 

Tobacco : 

Stemmed „ 6,912,451 

Unstemmed „ 12,649,554 

Manufactured, cigars, and snuff „ 432,839 



59 

Wine : 

Imported from British possessions gallons 50,957 

,. foreign countries „ 1,056,442 

Total of Wine „ 1,107,399 

Wood and Timber : =^= 
Not sawn or split, or otherwise dressed, except hewn. 

Of British possessions loads 144,051 

Foreign „ 43,513 

Total not sawn or split „ 187,564 

Deals, battens, boards, &c, sawn or split. " 

Of British possessions loads 204,955 

Foreign „ 18,222 

Total sawn or split „ 223,177 

Staves loads 21,823 

Wool : 

Sheep and lambs' lbs. 41,247,359 

Alpaca andLlama „ 2,126,686 

Woollen manufactures, not made up value £ 3,056 



On examining the above list of the articles introduced 
into the port of Liverpool, it will he found that they are 
from seventy to eighty in number, independent of a great 
variety of smaller articles, which are not enumerated. By 
far the most important of these articles are the raw 
materials of the principal manufactures carried on in Lan- 
cashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire ; next in importance are 
grain, flour, provisions, and a great variety of articles of 
food ; and, third, are the various kinds of timber and 
wood used in the construction of houses, warehouses, and 
ships. The aggregate value of all these articles is between 
£40,000,000 and £50,000,000. As nearly all the articles 
imported, in the form of raw materials, are afterwards 
exported, in the form of manufactured goods, it will be 
more convenient to give a list of the exports from Liver- 
pool, before noticing a few of the more important articles 
in detail. 



60 

The following is a list of the British products exported 
from Liverpool in the year 1857, with their values : 

Apparel and slops £484,919 

Beer and ale 250,856 

Butter 366,931 

Candles, stearine 44,653 

Cheese 47,203 

Coals, cinders, and culm 302,761 

Cotton manufactures : 

Calicoes, cambrics, and muslins, fustians, and mixed stuffs . 20,455,190 

All other kinds 887,891 

Cotton yarn 2,049,442 

Earthenware and porcelain 1,032,590 

Fish, herrings 4,115 

Glass of all kinds 191,631 

Haberdashery and millinery 2,128.715 

Hardware and cutlery 2,542,576 

Leather, tanned, unwrought 80,020 

Wrought 574,446 

Saddlery and harness 118,503 

Linen manufactures : 

Cloths of all kinds, and cambrics 2,840,991 

All other kinds 183,626 

Linen yarn 366,868 

Machinery : — Steam engines and other sorts 1,096,757 

Metals : 

Iron — pig, bar, wire, and cast 2,576,095 

Wrought of all kinds 1,861,008 

Steel, unwrought 469,508 

Copper, unwrought 198,844 

Part wrought, and wrought 948,135 

Lead — Ore, pig, rolled, sheet, and shot 129,831 

Tin, unwrought and in plates 1,298,951 

Oil, seed 48,227 

Painters' colours 84,303 

Salt 283,536 

:Silk manufactures 836,613 

Thrown, twist, and yarn , 23,500 

Soap and soda 489,581 

Spirits 70,203 

Stationery 134,514 

Sugar ("British refined) 5,824 

Wool, sheep and lambs' 56,457 

Woollen and worsted manufactures : 

Woollens, worsted, and mixed stuffs 6,319,870 

All other kinds 365,879 

Woollen and worsted yarn, including yarn mixed with other 

materials 40,703 

All other articles 2,881,430 

Total declared real value £55,173,756 



61 

The above lists of exports and imports show, that the 
greater part of the commerce of Liverpool is derived from 
imports of various raw materials of manufactures, and from 
the export of manufactured goods. Under the head of raw 
materials are included cotton, sheep, llama, and alpaca wool ; 
flax, silk, hemp, and jute ; hides, and a great variety of dyes, 
oils, and other articles of produce, used in the processes by 
which the raw materials are converted into those beauti- 
ful and useful fabrics, which the workshops of the United 
Kingdom supply to the whole world. We proceed to 
notice a few of the most prominent articles. 



THE COTTON TRADE OF LIVERPOOL. 

The commerce created by the importation of raw cotton 
and the exportation of cotton manufactures, is the greatest 
branch of commerce which now exists, or which ever 
existed in the British Empire. Five-sixths of this prodi- 
gious trade is carried on through the port of Liverpool, of 
which it forms the main support. The value of the cotton 
imported into the United Kingdom, in the last year of 
which we have an official return, was £29,288,827 ; and of 
this amount about £27,000,000 was the value of the cotton 
imported into Liverpool. To this must be added the value 
of the dye wares and other articles used in preparing cot- 
ton goods for use, amounting to not less than £4,000,000 
more. The value of the cotton goods and yarn exported, 
in the same year, was £39,073,420, of which £23,392,523 
passed through the port of Liverpool. Adding the value 
of the exports to that of the imports, we have a commerce 



02 

amounting to 5672,362,247 a-year, produced by one article, 
of which upwards of ^£50,000,000 passes through Liverpool- 

The growth of the cotton trade, during the last sixty 
years, is the greatest fact in the history of modern industry. 
In the first year of the present century, the quantity of 
cotton imported into, and manufactured in, the United 
Kingdom was rather more than 50,000,000 lbs. ; in the 
year 1858 it was 1,025,000,000 lbs., being an increase of 
twenty-fold. What is of even more importance is, that the 
increase continues to the present time, in a ratio limited 
only by the production of the raw material. 

Five countries, very distant from each other, join in 
supplying the great article of cotton, so essential to the 
commerce and manufactures of the United Kingdom. Of 
these countries, the two which supply cotton in much the 
greatest abundance, are those in which the capital, energy, 
and skill of the Anglo-American and Anglo-Indian race 
have been applied, with the greatest success, to tropical 
industry, namely, the United States of America, and 
British India. These are the only two countries which 
have hitherto shown themselves at all capable of meeting 
that prodigious demand for this article, which is created by 
the manufacturing energy of the British people, and the 
wants of the whole world. Of the 8,654,633 cwts. im- 
ported into this country, in 1857, for consumption or export, 
the quantity produced in the United States was 5,879,034 
cwts. ; in the British East Indies, 1,602,213 cwts. ; in the 
Brazilian Empire, 267,061 cwts. ; in Egypt, 219,038 cwts. ; 
in the West Indies, 11,887 cwts. No other country, at the 
present time, supplies tins country with any quantity of 
cotton which is deserving of notice. 



63 

It will be seen from the above figures that the United 
States supplied nearly three-fourths of the whole of the 
ootton imported, and British India much the larger portion 
of the other fourth. The reasons of this superiority are 
.very obvious. In the United States there exists the 
greatest skill and intelligence in the cultivation of cotton, 
a sufficiency of capital, an inexhaustible supply of the 
finest land, a freehold and rent-free tenure of the land, a 
regular supply of labour, a climate in which heat and 
moisture are much more favourably blended, than in the 
climates of most other countries in which cotton is grown, 
an immense number of navigable rivers flowing down to 
the places of export, and a comparatively short and easy 
voyage to the ports of this country. The one drawback in 
the production of cotton in the United States is, that it is 
raised by slave labour instead of free labour, a circumstance 
which has a tendency to limit production beyond a certain 
point, and to discourage improvements. British Indiais supe- 
rior to the United States, as a cotton- growing country, in the 
abundance of labour, and that is a circumstance of so much 
importance as to compensate for many disadvantages. Some 
of those disadvantages arise from natural causes, whilst 
others originate in political and economical mismanagement. 
The most serious natural difficulty in India is that caused 
by the excessive dryness of the climate ; yet, even that might 
be overcome, to a certain extent, by the introduction of 
irrigation. There is also some disadvantage from the 
greater length of the voyage to Europe. The difficulties 
arising from political and economical causes may be very 
much diminished, if not altogether overcome, by the intro- 
duction of a better system of tenures for land, and the 



G4 

formation of railways, through the cotton-producing dis- 
tricts. There is a wide field for improvement in these 
respects, and the progress of the production of cotton in 
India, during the last dozen years, has been such as to 
encourage hopes of still greater success. 

On examining the progress of production during the 
last thirty years, in the five countries in which cotton is 
produced, we find the following results : 

In the year 1828, the quantity of American cotton im- 
ported into the United Kingdom, was 444,390 bales; the 
quantity of East Indian, 84,855 bales ; the quantity of 
Brazilian, 167,362 bales; the quantity of Egyptian, 
32,889 bales, and the quantity of West Indian, 20,056 
bales, making the total number of bales of cotton imported 
in 1828, 749,552. 

Passing on for a period of ten years, we find that the 
quantity of American cotton imported into the United 
Kingdom, in the year 1838, had increased to 1,124,800 
bales, and that of East Indian to 107,200 bales ; whilst the 
quantity of Brazilian cotton had decreased to 137,500 bales, 
and that of Egyptian to 29,700 bales. The supply of West 
Indian had increased to 29,400 bales. The total quantity 
in 1858 was thus 1,428,600 bales. 

Passing on once more to the year 1848, we find that the 
import of American cotton had increased to 1,375,400, and 
that of East Indian to 227,500 bales, whilst the supply of 
Brazilian cotton had decreased to 100,200 bales, that of 
Egyptian to 29,000, and that of West Indian to 7,900 
bales. The total import of 1848 was thus 1,740,000 bales. 

Passing on, again, to the last year, 1858, we find that 
the import that year was the largest ever known, and con- 



65 

sisted of 1,863,300 bales American, 361,000 East Indian, 
106,200 Egyptian, and 6,500 West Indian. The total 
import of 1858 was thus 2,442,000 bales. 

The largest quantity of cotton ever imported from the 
United States, in one year, was that imported in the year 
1858, namely, 1,863,300 bales ; the largest imported from 
India was that of 1857, amounting to 680,500 bales; the 
largest imported from Brazil was that of 1830, amounting 
to 191,468 bales; and the largest imported from Egypt 
was that of 1856, amounting to 113,000 bales. The 
quantity of cotton produced in the West Indies has 
decreased from 103,511 bales, in 1809, to 6,500, in 1858. 

The import of cotton into Great Britain in the year 
1858, compared with 1857, showed an increase of 381,300 
bales of American, and 29,700 Egyptian; and a decrease of 
62,700 Brazilian, 319,500 East Indian, and 4,800 West 
Indian ; making a total increase of 24,000 bales. 

The average weekly consumption of Great Britain in 
1858, was estimated, by Messrs. George Holt and Co., at 
41,817 bales, of which 31,452 was American, 6,240 East 
Indian, 2,192 Brazilian, 1,729 Egyptian, and 224 West 
Indian. 

Compared with the consumption of the preceeding 
year, these figures show an increase of 79,500,000 lbs. 
The total import of 1858 is estimated, by Messrs. George 
Holt and Co., at 1,025,000,569 lbs., being an increase on 
the preceding year (1857) of 49,398,000 lbs. 

The total quantity of raw cotton imported into the 
United Kingdom, in the year 1857, was 8,654,633 cwts. Of 
this quantity 8,078,042 cwts. was imported into Liverpool. 

Next in importance to cotton wool is the wool of the 
*F2 



66 

sheep, the llama, and the alpaca. Thirty years ago Spain 
and Saxony were the principal countries from which sheep's 
wool was imported into this country, and at that time the 
commerce in wool was chiefly confined to London, Hull, 
and Bristol. Since that time, however, Australia has left 
these countries far behind, in the production of wool, and 
one of the consequences of that change has been to give 
the port of Liverpool a considerable share of that great 
trade. In the year 1857, the quantity of wool imported 
into the United Kingdom was 127,290,885 lbs., and of this 
69,961,286 lbs. was imported into London, 41,247,359 lbs. 
into Liverpool, and 11,673,049 lbs. into Hull. In the same 
year the quantity of alpaca and llama wool imported 
into the United Kingdom was 2,359,013 lbs., of which 
2,126,686 lbs. were imported into Liverpool, and 133,9031bs. 
into London. 

In two other raw materials, namely, flax and silk, 
Liverpool has only a small share, Hull being the principal 
port for the import of flax, and London and Southampton 
the principal ports for the import of silk. In the articles 
of hemp, jute, hides, and in the dyewoods used in manu- 
factures, Liverpool has a very large share of the whole. 

With regard to manufactured goods, it will be seen 
from the table of exports already given, that Liverpool 
possesses this trade far beyond any other port of the United 
Kingdom. 

Next in importance, as articles of commerce, are the 
great articles of food, especially those of grain, flour, and 
provisions. Liverpool is now one of the most extensive 
corn markets in Europe, being especially suited for the 
corn trade of the United States, of British America, and 



67 

of Ireland, and having also an extensive trade in grain with 
France, Spain, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea. 
The particulars of the imports of grain and flour will be 
found in the table given above. It is generally conceded 
that the corn trade of Liverpool is next in importance to 
the cotton trade. 

The timber trade is also a trade of very great extent, 
and gives employment to a large amount of shipping. 
The particulars will be found in the tables of imports, and 
and in the account of the trade of the separate docks. 

The articles known under the general name of produce 
are also of very great value. The particulars of each 
article will be found separately, in the accompanying tables. 

Previous to the discovery of the gold diggings in 
Australia, there was no trade in the precious metals in the 
port of Liverpool, of any importance, but since then the 
imports of gold have become very large, and in the year 
1858 amounted to £7,320,522. 



LINES OF RAILWAY AND CANAL COMMUNI- 
CATION FROM THE RIVER MERSEY TO THE 
PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND DISTRICTS OF THE 
UNITED KINGDOM. 

Having described the commerce of Liverpool, the 
sources whence it is derived, and the shipping by which 
it is carried on, it will be desirable to give a brief account 
of the great lines of railway and canal communication, 
which have their starting points and termini, in connection 
with the docks and with the harbour of the Mersev. The 



68 



most important of these lines were formed for the purpose 
of participating in the profits of the trade of the Mersey, 
and they have all, in their tum, tended to add greatly to 
that trade. 

The lines of land and water communication, extending 
from the docks and harhour of the Mersey, to various 
parts of the United Kingdom, are twelve in number. 

The first of the lines of railway which have one or 
more terminus in the port of Liverpool, is the London and 
North-western Eailway, constructed, according to Mr. 
Lowe's return of last session, at a cost, in capital and loans, 
of £38,734,939. The next is the Great Western, not 
originally connected with the Mersey, hut brought down 
to Birkenhead recently, at a prodigious cost in money and 
guarantees, and having cost, according to the same return, 
up to the 31st December, 1857, the sum of £27,797,150. 
The third is the Great Northern, which, like the Great 
Western, was not originally connected with Liverpool or the 
Mersey, but which has recently made its way to Garston and 
the Mersey, by the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire, 
the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham, and the 
St. Helen's and Garston Lines. The cost of the Great 
Northern, to the 31st December, 1857, was £12,062,479; 
that of the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Line, 
£5,939,981; and that of the St. Helen's and Garston, 
£859,200 — the capital of the Manchester South Junction 
:and Altrincham being included in the Great Northern 
returns. Fourth, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, whose 
loans and capital, to the 31st December, 1857, amounted to 
£14,487,577. Fifth, the East Lancashire, whose capital 
and loans, to the same date, amounted to £4,237,833. 



69 

Sixth, the Liverpool and Southport Eailway. And seventh, 
the Birkenhead Lancashire and Cheshire line, whose loans 
and capital, are stated in Mr. Lowe's return, at £3, 150,000. 

Nearly a hundred years before George Stephenson 
formed the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway, Brindley, 
and his noble employer, the Duke of Bridgewater, with 
other engineers — of whom Thomas Steers, the former of 
the first and second Liverpool docks, was the ablest — had 
improved rivers and constructed canals, for the purpose of 
promoting the same line of communication. All these 
lines of navigation still exist, some independently, others 
in connection with different lines of railway. 

The Bridgewater Canal, the noblest work of the genius 
of Brindley, is still an extensive and useful line of com- 
munication, maintaining an independent action, and having 
joined to it the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, constructed, 
by Steers, thirty years earlier. Both these lines are stated, 
in Mr. Lowe's returns, to be " private property ; " and on 
that ground give no account of the capital expended upon 
them — which perhaps might be difficult, so long after the 
time when they were constructed. The Weaver Navigation, 
from the river Mersey to the Cheshire Salt Field, also main- 
tains a separate existence, and does a very extensive 
business. The Sankey and Widness Canal has a very 
extensive trade, but is now united to the St. Helen's Bail- 
way. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, with the Douglas 
navigation, forming one of the most extensive and useful 
lines of inland navigation in the United Kingdom, is now 
leased and worked by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Kail- 
way Company. The Trent and Mersey Canal is now 
united with the North Staffordshire Railway, whose capital 



70 

is given, in Mr. Lowe's return, at .£3,996,372. And the 
Chester Canal, from Ellesmere Port on the Mersey, to the 
Severn, is merged in the Shropshire Union Railway and 
Canal Company, whose capital and loans, to the 31st 
December, 1857, amounted to £5,820,000. 

The general effect of all these railways and canals is to 
give the port of Liverpool the easiest, quickest, and 
cheapest means of communication, not only with Lanca- 
shire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, but with Staffordshire, 
Birmingham, and London, in one direction ; with North 
Wales, Shrewsbury, and South Wales in another; with 
Kendal, Carlisle, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow in a 
third; and with Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in a 
fourth. 

The various lines of railway and canal above described, 
are connected with the docks of the Mersey at different 
points ; and, besides the advantage which they derive from, 
and confer on, the general commerce of the port, they exer- 
cise a considerable influence, in promoting trade between 
the towns and districts from which they proceed, and 
the particular docks, near which they terminate. 

Beginning at the north end of the docks, the group of 
railways and canals which enter and lead from the docks 
and port, into the interior, are the East Lancashire, and 
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways, (which have a 
common terminus,) and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 
which is leased by the latter company. These lines of com- 
munication leave the docks nearly by the line selected by the 
engineers of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, (of whom the 
great Brindley was one,) for the first canal ever formed 
from the docks of Liverpool, to the interior of Lancashire 



71 



and Yorkshire ; which was also the line by which George 
Stephenson proposed, in his original bill of 1824, to have 
taken the Liverpool and Manchester Kailway out of Liver- 
pool. This is at once the line of the easiest gradients from 
and to Liverpool, as it winds round the hills on which 
Liverpool stands, instead of going over them ; and is also 
the best line of communication from Liverpool to the great 
coal fields of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and to the 
numerous and populous towns, which have grown up, on 
these inexhaustible stores of mechanical power and 
national wealth. These two lines of railway, with the 
Leeds and Liverpool Canal, form the principal means of 
communication between Liverpool and the following 
places : — Preston (69,542 inhabitants, at the last census in 
1851); Lancaster (26,168); Kendal (11,829); Carlisle 
(26,310) ; Newcastle-on-Tyne (87,784) ; the whole of 
Scotland (nearly 3,000,000) ; Blackburn (46,536) ; Burnley 
(20,828); Wigan (31,941); Bolton (61,171); Bury 
(31,262); Kochdale (29,195); Halifax (33,582); Brad- 
ford (102,778); Leeds (172,270); Wakefield (22,057); 
and Hull (84,690) ; together with the almost innumerable 
populous villages, extending nearly all the way from Liver- 
pool to Leeds along these lines of communication. 

It is owing to the extent and value of the trade with these 
districts that the northern docks, none of which have been 
in existence more than ten years, last year produced the 
following large amounts of revenue : — The Huskisson Dock, 
£30,209; the Sandon Dock, £3,831 (and a considerable 
part of the £21,922 Is. from the graving docks) ; the 
Wellington Dock, £17,411; the Bramley-Moore Dock, 
£42,076, (being the largest amount received that year in 



72 

any dock in the port of Liverpool) ; the Nelson Dock r 
£17,081; the Salisbury Dock, £1,903; the Collingwood 
Dock, £5,296 ; and the Stanley Dock, £28,752 ; making a 
total of £146,559, or upwards of one-third of the whole dock 
revenue in 1858, from tonnage, lights, and merchandise. 
A considerable portion of the trade and of the passenger 
traffic of the Clarence Dock, and of all the docks as far 
south as the Prince's, also flows along the northern lines, 
owing to the advantages afforded by the Leeds and 
Liverpool Canal, and the Tithebarn- street Railway Station, 
which leads directly up to the Exchange. 

The London and North-western Railway communicates 
with the Liverpool Docks by two goods stations ; one of 
these, at the south, adjoining the Wapping, the King's, and 
the Queen's Docks, the second, at the north, adjoining the 
Victoria, the Waterloo, and the Trafalgar Docks. The 
London and North-western Railway is also to have a station 
near the centre of the Birkenhead Docks, on a piece of land 
containing 40,000 square yards, situated on the South 
Reserve, between the large Low- water Basin and the Morpeth 
and Egerton Docks. 

The north goods station of the London and North- 
western Railway, is the principal outlet and inlet of the 
trade of the Clarence, the Trafalgar, the Victoria, and the 
Waterloo, the Prince's, and perhaps of the George's Docks. 

The south or Wapping Station of the London and 
North-western Line, with the Bridgewater and Mersey and 
Irwell navigations, are the principal outlets and inlets of 
the trade of the Wapping, King's, Queen's, Salthouse, am 
Albert Docks. 

These are the great lines of communication with Man- 



73 

Chester and Salford, which had between them upwards of 
400,000 inhabitants, in 1851, (Manchester 316,213; Salford 
85,108), and which have at least half a million now ; with 
Oldham (72,357) ; Huddersfield (30,880) ; the salt districts 
of Cheshire, Staffordshire (North and South), Birmingham 
(232,841) ; and London (2,500,000) inhabitants. 

The Liverpool termini of the Trent and Mersey Canal, 
now united with the North Staffordshire Kailway; and of 
the Mersey and Severn, or Chester and Ellesmere Canal, 
now united with the Shropshire Eailway, are also in con- 
' lection with this part of the docks. 

The central portions of the Liverpool docks, extending 
from Clarence Dock to Queen's Dock, and producing 
amongst them a revenue of nearly £200,000 a-year, are 
kept in a constant state of activity by the trade with 
Manchester, and the other flourishing towns in the vallies 
of the Mersey and the Irwell. The amount of revenue 
yielded to the various railway and canal companies which 
have lines of communication between Liverpool and Man- 
chester, by the traffic between those great seats of manu- 
facturing industry and commercial enterprise, is said to be 
from £500,000 to £600,000 per annum. This magnificent 
revenue, with the not less splendid revenue arising from the 
intercourse between Lancashire and London, through the 
midst of the densely crowded and wealthy population of 
Staffordshire and Birmingham, are the prizes for which the 
London and North Western, the Great Northern, the Great 
Western, and their auxiliary lines have been so long and 
so eagerly contending, but which they now propose to 
divide amongst themselves in certain settled proportions. 

The Great Northern Eailway approached the Mersey, as 

* G 



74 



the ally of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire,, 
the Manchester and Altringham South Junction, and the 
St. Helens [and Garston Eailways, at G-arston, about four 
miles above Liverpool. 

The St. Helens and Garston Kailway and Canal Com- 
pany has four points of connection with the Mersey, two 
for the purposes of its canals, and two for the purposes 
of its railway. The first of its water communications is near 
Warrington, at Sankey Bridges, where its original line of 
canal, to the neighbourhood of St. Helens, commenced ; the 
second is at Widness, nearly opposite to Euncorn, where a 
more modern line of canal j oins the one first constructed. At 
Widness, the St. Helens Company have constructed a dock, 
covering an acre of ground, with a quay space of 280 yards 
frontage, for railway purposes. At Garston they have con- 
structed a much larger dock, for the use of sea-going ships. 
The Garston Dock is entered by dock gates 50 feet wide, 
and the entrance is sunk 6 feet below the datum of the Old 
Dock sill. It covers 6J- acres, its quays have a lineal front 
of 900 yards, and they are 100 feet deep. The Garston Dock 
will admit vessels of 1,500 to 1,600 tons burden; and it is 
fitted up with coal drops, each of which will ship coal at 
the rate of 100 tons per hour. 

But the St. Helens and Garston line has also sought 
parliamentary powers to extend its line from Garston into 
Liverpool, and to the edge of the Liverpool docks. The 
point at which it proposed to form its station for goods, was 
near the Brunswick, the Toxteth, and the Harrington 
Docks, to all which docks and their trade, as well as to the 
south part of Liverpool, and to the populous towns and 
districts of St. Helens, Kuncom, and Warrington, the 



75 

proposed extension of the G-arston line would be a great 
•convenience. It would also form another line of communi- 
cation, from the Liverpool docks to Manchester, and beyond 
Manchester to Stockport, Sheffield, Nottingham, Lincoln 
and Grimsby. 

The Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction, 
and the Great Western Railways, already furnish convenient 
lines of communication from the river Mersey, at the 
Birkenhead docks, to Manchester, Birmingham, London, 
and Southampton, and to the whole range of country, 
lying to the west of a line, drawn from Birkenhead, to 
Birmingham, Oxford, Reading, and Southampton — a 
country abounding in mineral and agricultural wealth. 
The arrangement of last session will also give the London 
and North-western Company a strong interest in developing 
the trade from the Birkenhead docks, to all parts of its 
extensive lines of communication. 

The Great Western has at present a goods station at 
the Morpeth Dock, but it is to have a much larger and 
more commodious one, situated on a portion of the land 
known as the South Reserve. Like the station of the Lon- 
don and North-western Railway Company, on the same 
plot of ground, it will contain 40,000 square yards of land. 
The Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Railway is also 
to have a station on the South Reserve. 

The Great Western Railway Company, after having 
expended about £3,500,000 on what are called the Shrews- 
bury lines, which are really lines to Birkenhead, and 
having spent several millions more in reaching the point 
where the Shrewsbury lines commence, is not likely to omit 
any means of rendering these lines profitable. The return 



76 

for that great outlay must be looked for from Birkenhead, 
and the efforts to secure that return will be advantageous 
to the commerce of the Mersey, whether it should prove 
profitable or unprofitable to the company. 

THE WAREHOUSES OF LIVERPOOL. 

In order to render efficient the great works above 
described, it was necessary to erect, as near to them as 
possible, extensive stacks of warehouses, to receive the 
enormous amounts of produce brought into the port, by 
the four millions and a half of tons of shipping which enter 
it every year. 

The warehouses of Liverpool are constructed with a 
special regard to security against fire. This is rendered 
necessary by the immense quantities of cotton, oil, and 
other inflammable articles introduced into the port. 

As relates to security against fire, the Liverpool ware- 
houses are divided into three classes — 1st, fire-proof; 2nd, 
externally fire-proof; and 3rd, uncertified warehouses. 

Fire-proof warehouses are constructed altogether of 
bricks and iron, and have no wood work in them. 

Externally fire-proof are constructed internally of 
wood, but externally of bricks, and partly of iron, and 
generally are proof against ignition from any building in 
contiguity. 

Uncertified warehouses are such as were erected prior to 
the year 1843, when the Liverpool Warehouse Act passed, 
and are of bricks and wood, being neither internally nor 
externally fire-proof. About one-fourth of the Liverpool 
warehouses are bonded warehouses, and are licensed by the 



77 

-Crown, for the storage of goods, on which the duties are 
unpaid, the occupiers of these warehouses giving security 
to the Board of Customs. These warehouses, both free 
and bonded, are occupied by merchants and middle men, 
who are called warehouse keepers. 

Where the occupier employs his own men, the ware- 
houses are said to be under exclusive management, and the 
buildings, and property in them, are insured from fire at a 
lower rate ; but, generally, this is not the case. The occupier, 
in some instances, lets rooms in the warehouses, giving the 
•sub -tenant the key; and in others, which is more frequently 
the practice, the warehouse keeper has the custody of the 
goods, but the merchant employs his own men. 

The dock warehouses are all upon the verge of docks, 
namely, the Albert, Stanley, and Wapping, and are under 
exclusive management. The buildings are fire-proof. 

There are some warehouses near the dock quays, but 
some of them are at a short distance, and the value of such 
warehouses is in some measure regulated by their proximity 
or otherwise to the docks. The warehouses are rated for 
the poor at £146,352, and their gross annual value is sup- 
posed to be £162,615, representing a capital of £3,000,000 
to £-1,000,000. 

The warehouses or stores consist of warehouses, sheds, 
and vaults. The sheds are used generally as cotton stores, 
and the vaults for the deposit of liquids. 

The Tobacco Warehouses are situated at the west side 
of the Bang's Dock, and are now rented by a lessee. A 
short time ago they were in the hands of the Customs. 
They have now no exclusive privileges, as any person can 
obtain the power of bonding tobacco, by fitting up ware- 
*g2 



78 



houses according to certain rules. They are under exclusive 
management. 

Timber is stored in sheds and yards, near to the docks, 
appropriated to that trade. They are generally in the hands 
of the importers. 

The Birkenhead Dock Warehouses, now belonging to 
the Dock Board, are externally fire-proof. 



THE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF LIVERPOOL. 

Having described the commerce and shipping of the 
port of Liverpool at the present time, we proceed to give a 
brief account of the public institutions, by means of which 
the affairs of the port, and those of the town, are admi- 
nistered. We shall speak, first of the representation of 
Liverpool in parliament. 



REPRESENTATION OF LIVERPOOL. 

Liverpool has returned two members to parliament from 
the year 1296, when Edward the First called on the bur- 
gesses of all the principal towns of the kingdom, to send 
members to his parliament, then about to assemble at 
Westminster. The constituency of Liverpool, previous to 
the Reform Bill, consisted of rather more than 4,000 voters ; 
it now amounts to 18,779, which is the largest number of 
voters in any English city or town out of the metropolitan 
district. The constituency consists of householders and 
freemen, but in very different proportions. The number 
of freemen, in 1855-6 was 2,245; in 1856-7 it was 2,086; 



79 

in 1857-8 it was 1,956 ; and in 1858-9 it was only 1,791 : 
whilst, on the other hand, the number of householders was 
15,602 in 1855-6; 16,228 in 1856-7; 16,899 in 1857-8 ; 
and 16,985 in 1858-9. 

The borough of Liverpool is at present represented by 
Thomas Berry Horsfall and Joseph Christopher Ewart, 
Esqrs., both members of families long and honourably con- 
nected with the commerce of the port. 

THE MEESEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD. 

The most important of the local institutions of Liver- 
pool is the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, which has 
the control of the port, harbour, and docks of the river 
Mersey; the Town Council, which governs the borough 
of Liverpool ; and the Select Vestry, which administers the 
the affairs of the parish. 

The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board consists of 
twenty-eight members. Of these twenty-eight members, 
twenty-four are elected by dock ratepayers, paying ^10 a 
year in dock dues, and are required themselves to pay ^25 
a year, in dues, to the dock estate ; and the other four 
are nominated by the Commissioners of Conservancy, for 
the river Mersey, who are the Eirst Lord of the Admiralty, 
the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Chief 
Commissioner of Woods and Forests, for the time being. 
The four names in the subjoined list thus marked * are 
those of the nominated members, the others are those of 
the elective members. The number of dock ratepayers on 
the register is 1,451 ; and none but dock ratepayers have 
now any voice in the administration of dock affairs. 






80 



THE MEMBERS OF THE MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR 
BOARD (ELECTED JANUARY 1ST, 1859.) 



Charles Turner, Esq., Chairman 

Anderson, Thomas Darnley, West Dingle, Dingle-lane, Toxteth Park, 

Merchant 
Arnold, Samuel James, Sandfield Park, West Derby, Broker 
Bold, Thomas, Canning- street, Shipowner 
Boult, Francis, Claughton, Cheshire, Merchant 
Brocklebank, Ralph, Annesley, Aigburth, Merchant 
Bushell, Christopher, Hinderton, near Neston, Wine Merchant 
Evans, Eyre, Shaw-street, Liverpool, Merchant 
Farnworth, John, Much Woolton, near Liverpool, Timber Broker 
Forwood, Thomas Brittain, Fairfield, West Derby, Merchant 
Graves, Samuel Robert, The Grange, Wavertree, Merchant and 

Shipowner 
Holme, James, Mount-pleasant, Liverpool, Gentleman 
Hubback, Joseph, Ashfield-road, Aigburth, Merchant 
Hutchison, Robert, Canning-street, Liverpool, Merchant 
Inman, William, Harefield-house, near Upton, Cheshire, Steam-ship 

Agent 
Laird, John, Hamilton-square, ship-builder, Birkenhead 
Langton, William, Abercromby- square, Liverpool, Merchant 
Littledale, Harold, Liscard-Hall, Cheshire, Broker 
Lockett, John Hilton, Shaw-street, Liverpool, Merchant 
Maclver, Charles, Abercromby-square, Liverpool, Steam-ship Owner 
Mondel, Joseph, Church-road, Seaforth, Shipowner 
Moss, William Miles, Ashfield, Walton Breck, Merchant 
Rankin, Robert, Bromborough-hall, Bromborough, Cheshire, Merchant 
Rounthwaite, John Kirby, Huskisson- street, Liverpool, Steam-packet 

Agent 
Segar, Halsall, the younger, Claughton-park, Claughton, Cheshire, 

Corn Merchant 
Shand, Francis, Fairfield-hall, West Derby, Merchant 
Smith, James, Barkeley-house, Seaforth, Gentleman 
Tobin, James Aspinall, Eastham, Cheshire, Merchant 



For the more effectually carrying out the business of 
the trust, the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board has formed 
the following committees : 



81 



DEPARTMENTS AND COMMITTEES OF THE MERSEY DOCKS 
AND HARBOUR BOARD, 1859. 

1st. Works — (consisting of 10 members) — Messrs. Brocklebank, 
r Bold, Bushell, Evans, Laird, Rankin, Smith, Tobin, Holme, Shand, and 
Turner. — Meets every Saturday, at 12 o'clock. 

2nd. Warehouses — (7 members) — Messrs. Hubback, Arnold, 
Brocklebank, Evans, Smith, Segar, and Littledale. — Meets every Satur- 
day, at the Albert Dock, at 1 o'clock. 

3rd. Marine — (6 members) — Messrs. Mondel, Inman, Lockett, 
Langton, Maciver, and Moss. — Meets every Tuesday, at 1 o'clock. 

4th. Docks and Quays — (9 members) — Messrs. Lockett, Graves, 
Langton, Hutchison, Rounthwaite, Smith, Maciver, Boult, and Forwood. 
Meets every Wednesday, at 12 o'clock. 

5th. Finance — (6 members) — Messrs. Rankin, Anderson, Bushell, 
Hubback, Farnworth, and Littledale — Meets every Thursday at 12 o'clock. 

6th. Master Porterage — (6 members) — Messrs. Rounthwaite, 
Arnold, Inman, Hutchison, Segar, and Forwood. — Meets every Thursday, 
at half-past 12 o'clock. 

7th. Parliamentary — (8 members) — Messrs. Shand, Bold, Brockle- 
bank, Graves, Laird, Rankin, Tobin, and Holme. 

8th. PifcOTAGE. — 12 members — eight members of the board, and the 
remaining four not members) — Members of the board, Messrs. Shand, 
Moss, Boult, Anderson, Farnworth, Inman, Mondel, and Bold ; not 
members of the board, Messrs. Andrew Boyd, T. M. Blythe, W. T. 
Jacob, and George Kendall. — Meets every Monday, in the pilots' 
committee room, 2, Old Churchyard. 

N.B. — The chairman of the board is, ex officio, a member of each 
committee. 



OFFICERS OF THE MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD. 

Mr John North, Solicitor ; Office, Dock-office 

Mr Jesse Hartley ) Engineers of the Docks ; Office, south side 

Mr John Bernard Hartley j Coburg Dock 

Mr Daniel Mason, Secretary of the Committee 
Mr G J Jefferson, Dock Treasurer 

Lieut. M T Parks, R.N., Marine Surveyor ; Office, Dock-office 
Mr Wiliam Marrow, Receiver of Duties on Tonnage 
Mr John Evans, Receiver of the Duties on Goods Inwards 
Mr Joseph F Owen, Receiver of Duties on Goods Outwards 
Mr Richard Jones, Receiver of the Duties at Runcorn 
Mr R Cowan, Superintendent of Albert and Wapping Dock Warehouses 
Mr W D Turner, Superintendent of Stanley Dock Warehouses 
Mr Thomas Hodgson, Senior Harbour-master ) Masters of the Graving 
Mr John Garniss, Junior Harbour-master J Docks* 

* Office, George's Dock Passage. 



82 

THE POET, HARBOUR, AND DOCKS OF 
LIVERPOOL, AND THE RIVER MERSEY. 

The public works which are under the management of 
the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, include so great a 
variety of details, that it has been thought better to describe 
them separately. This is done in the second part of 
this work, so fully as to render any further particulars, with 
regard to the docks, harbour, and port unnecessary, in the 
first part of the work. We proceed, therefore, to trace 
the rise and progress of the dock revenues. 

THE REVENUE AND ESTATE OF THE MERSEY 
DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD. 

It appears from the balance sheet of the Mersey Docks 
and Harbour Board, published in the accounts of the 
Board, for the financial year ending June 24th, 1858, 
that the revenue of the Board that year amounted to the 
sum of £511,964 13s, 5d. ; and their expenditure, to the 
sum of £449,886 16s. 3d., leaving a surplus of ordinary 
revenue, to be carried to capital account, of £62,077 17s. 2d. 
In the preceding year, 1857, the surplus of ordinary revenue, 
carried to capital account was £102,209 15s. 5d. It may 
be useful to trace the progress of the dock revenue for the 
last twenty years. 

PROGRESS OF TONNAGE AND TONNAGE DUES DURING THE 
LAST TWENTY YEARS. 

The first great item of revenue consists of dock and 
light dues on shipping, commonly known as tonnage dues. 



83 



Twenty years ago, in the year 1839, these dues were paid by 
15,445 vessels, of the aggregate burden of 2,138,691 tons, 
and produced a revenue of £81,680 ; and last year they 
were paid by 21,352 vessels, of the burden of 4,441,943 
tons, and produced a revenue of £183,637 10s. lOd. The 
following figures, taken from the tabular statement, entitled 
"Account of dock duties at the port of Liverpool, from 
the year 1752," given at the end of the yearly statement of 
the Accounts of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, 
show the progress of this, the principal source of dock 
revenue, in the port of Liverpool : 



Year. 


Vessels. 


Tonnage. 


Duties on Tonnage. 








£ 


s. 


d. 


1839 


15,445 


2,158,691 


81,680 


8 


5 


1840 


15,998 


2,445,708 


92,221 


2 


3 


1841 


16,108 


2,425,461 


91,755 


10 


4 


1842 


16,458 


2,425,319 


93,360 


2 





1843 


16,606 


2,445,278 


96,445 


11 


7 


1844 


18,411 


2,632,712 


99,044 


13 


7 


1845 


20,521 


3,016,531 


118,046 


8 


8 


1846 


19,951 


3,096,444 


114,709 


15 


8 


1847 


20,889 


3,351,539 


127,982 


14 


1 


1848 


20,311 


3,284,963 


107,589 


10 


4 


1849 


20,733 


3,639,146 


122,073 


2 





1850 


20,457 


3,536,337 


116,541 


7 


11 


1851 


21,071 


3,737,666 


128,026 





7 


1852 


21,473 


3,912,506 


137,754 





5 


1853 


20,490 


3,889,981 


140,619 


19 


1 


1854 


22,030 


4,316,583 


161,441 








1855 


20,024 


4,096,160 


148,586 


14 


5 


1856 


20,886 


4,320,618 


174,338 


14 


9 


1857 


22,032 


4,645,362 


197,821 


2 


11 


1858 


21,352 


4,441,943 


183,637 


10 


10 



PROGRESS OF DUES ON GOODS INWARDS AND OUTWARDS 
DURING THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. 



The second great source of revenue is the dues on goods 
1 inwards and outwards. This source of revenue produced, 



84 



in the year 1839, an amount of £74,854 13s. Id., and last 
year, of £164,261 19s. lOd. The following table will show 
the progress of this great item of dock revenue, and also 
of the dues on tonnage and goods united : 



Years. 


Duties on Goods. 


Total on Tonnage and Goods. 


1839 


£ S. d. 

74,874 13 1 

85,975 11 9 

83,750 18 1 

83,871 13 5 

91,840 10 6 

86,119 8 4 

105,200 15 9 

98,714 6 

116,453 6 

90,028 6 6 

102,151 17 

95,201 19 8 

107,501 5 7 

108,932 5 3 

116,082 6 6 

136,637 8 8 

113,075 17 11 

152,462 13 1 

176,474 5 1 

164,261 19 10 


£ s. d. 
156,555 1 6 
178,196 4 
175,506 8 5 
177,231 15 5 
188,286 2 1 
185,164 1 11 
223,247 4 5 
213,423 16 2 
244,435 14 7 
197,617 16 10 
224,224 19 
211,743 7 7 
235,527 6 2 
246,686 5 8 
256,702 5 7 
298,078 8 8 
261,661 12 4 
326,801 7 10 
374,295 8 
347,899 10 8 


1840 


1841 


1842 


1843 


1844 


1845 


1846 


1847 


1848 

1849 


1850 

1851 

1852 


1853 


1854 


1855 

1856 


1857 

1858 





THE DOCK INCOME IN 1858. 

The revenue yielded by the above two great sources of 
income, showed a decline in the financial year extending 
from June 25, 1857, to June 24, 1858, in comparison with 
the same twelve months of 1856 and 1857, but this decline 
was only temporary, and arose from the commercial panic of 
1857. The revenue of the docks from tonnage and merchan- 
dise, in the year, from January to December, 1858, showed 
an increase, in comparison with the twelve months from 
January to December, 1857. The following are the com- 



85 

parative amounts of dues on tonnage and merchandise in 
those years:— Dues in 1858, £374,558 6s. Id.; 1857, 
£373,987 9s. 2d.; increase in 1858, £570 16s. lid. 



OTHER SOURCES OF INCOME TO THE DOCKS. 

Another considerable source of revenue is supplied by 
the graving dock rates and the graving block rates, from 
vessels under repair. Last year, the former of these, the 
graving docks, produced £21,922 Is. 0d., and the graving 
blocks, £2,004, 3s. 6d., making a total, for repairing pur- 
poses, of £22,926 4s. 6d. It is not necessary to follow 
this source of income more in detail. The shipping 
has doubled itself in twenty years, and the rates for 
repairs have increased in about the same proportion. 

The next item of importance, the revenue from dock 
warehouses, is entirely new during the last twenty years, 
no dock warehouses having existed in 1839. Last year, 
the revenue from this source was as follows : — Albert Dock 
Warehouses, £20,000; Wapping Dock Warehouses, £5,000 ; 
Stanley Dock Warehouses, £8,500 : total from dock ware- 
houses, £33,500. Another considerable item of revenue, 
is cash received for rents of property, £20,291 3s. This 
is property purchased for dock purposes, but not yet 
applied to those purposes. 

The item miscellaneous (the particulars of which are 
given at p. 4, in the accounts) produced last year the sum 
of £18,634 lis. lid. The principal items are canal rates, 
(on the branch canal, which joins the Leeds and Liverpool 
to the Stanley Dock,) cranes for landing and shipping goods, 
weights and scales, weighing machines, and dock stages. 

*H 



86 



PROGRESS OF TOWN DUES REVENUE, NOW APPLIED TO 
DOCK AND HARBOUR PURPOSES. 

In addition to these sources of revenue, the more 
important of which the dock estate has possessed, either 
from its commencement or for a long course of years, there 
is a new large source of income, which formerly belonged to 
the corporation of Liverpool, hut which was transferred to 
the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, on the 1st January, 
1 858, for the purposes of the latter trust. Only half a year's 
town dues had been received by the Docks and Harbour 
Board, at the time when its yearly account was published, as 
appears from the following item in the June accounts : — 
" Town Dues from 1st Jan., 1858,^62,411 18s. Id;" but the 
amount of town dues for the year 1858 was £133,359 9s.. 
lid. The progress of the town dues revenue, during the 
last twenty years, will be seen from the following figures : 



Years. 


Town Dues. 


Anchorage. 


Total. 


i 

1837-8 


£ S. 
62,731 16 
65,677 10 

es, 1 ^ 8 

67,787 12 

66,241 18 

67,054 9 

75,492 1 

81,900 10 

84,624 5 

96,246 11 

89,523 1 

102,768 10 

94,838 12 

106,607 15 

104,327 11 

117,124 13 

127,790 3 

112,878 19 

134,821 14 

136,500 15 

133,359 9 


d. 
3 
7 
4 
8 

8 
10 
•9 
7 
5 
4 

8 
9 
2 
2 
2 
8 
7 
1 
11 


£ s. d. 
734 12 3 
749 10 9 
771 5 
773 12 
758 15 3 
790 11 6 
864 16 
977 2 
923 6 5 
973 16 1 
893 15 5 
956 1 7 
937 19 5 
970 6 
922 19 8 
937 10 2 
992 13 11 
893 8 
941 15 5 
( Included ) 
1 in T. Dues) 


£ s. d. 

63,466 8 6 

66,427 1 4 

69,504 13 4 

68,561 4 8 

67,000 13 3 

67,845 1 2 

76,356 17 10 

82,877 12 11 

85,547 12 

97,220 7 6 

90,416 16 9 

103,724 11 7 

95,776 12 1 

107,597 16 3 

105,250 10 10 

118,062 3 4 

128,782 17 1 

113,772 4 

135,763 10 

136,500 15 1 

133,359 9 11 


1838-9 


1839-40 


1840-1 


1841-2 


1842-3 


1843-4 


1844-5 


1845-6 


1846-7 


1847-8 


1848-9 


1849-50 


1850-1 


1851-2 


1852-3 


1853-4 


1854-5 


1855-6 


1856-7 


1857-8 




• 



87 



NEW REVENUE AND NEW OBLIGATIONS OF THE 
DOCK ESTATE. 

The revenue of £133,359 from Town Dues, received by 
"the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, for the first time, in 
the year 1858, formerly belonged to the corporation of Liver- 
pool, but, as already mentioned, was transferred to the 
dock trust, by the Act of 1857. The obligations imposed 
on the dock estate, by the same act, involved the following 
amounts of expenditure : — First, the payment of compen- 
sation or purchase money for the town dues, paid to the 
corporation, amounting to £1,500,000 ; second, the pur- 
chase of the Birkenhead Dock Estate, for the sum of 
£1,250,000 ; third, the payment yearly of certain sums for 
conservancy and other purposes, amounting in the whole 
to £3,000 to £4,000 a year; and fourth, the completing 
the Birkenhead dock works, on the plans of the Act of 
1858, calculated according to the parliamentary estimate of 
1858, to cost the sum of £1,750,000. The income of the 
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, from whatever sources 
•derived, is liable for the capital and interest expended in 
carrying out the Birkenhead works. As already mentioned, 
there was a surplus of income above expenditure in the 
financial year ending June the 24th, 1857, of £102,000, 
and a surplus income of £62,000 in the financial year 
ending the 24th of June, 1858. In the second half-year 
of 1858 the great sources of dock revenue entirely re- 
covered from the check caused by the panic of Novem- 
ber, 1857, and the income from these sources is now 
as great as it ever was, in the most prosperous year known 
in Liverpool. 



THE MUNICIPAL GOVEENMENT OF 
LIVEKPOOL. 

The borough of Liverpool has had a Town Council, and 
has been a municipal corporation, for the last five centuries. 
Originally that body not only possessed the ordinary powers 
of local government, but included a commercial hanse and 
trading corporation, which acted at once as a joint-stock 
company for trading purposes, and as a council for the 
promotion and regulation of trade. During the last hundred 
and fifty years the Town Council has employed itself, 
amongst other things, in promoting the interests of the dock 
estate, which it originally founded, and afterwards governed, 
with great success, for a long course of years, raising it 
from nothing, to the position of one of the most prosperous 
and useful public estates that ever existed, or now exists, 
in England ; but, by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Act, 
of 1857, the management of the dock estate was separated 
from the municipal government of the port, and placed in 
the hands of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, whose 
constitution has been already described. All the duties 
usually performed by municipal corporations are still vested 
in the corporation, and those are numerous and important, 
as may be supposed, involving, as they do, the municipal 
government of a population of nearly half a million of 
inhabitants, 

THE TOWN COUNCIL AND CORPORATION. 

The Town Council of Liverpool consists of sixty-four 
members, of whom sixteen are aldermen and forty-eight 
town councillors. The borough is divided into sixteen 



89 



wards, each having one alderman, and returning three 
members to the Town Council. The number of municipal 
voters, on the present register, is 14,744. The following 
is a list of the Town Council, as at present composed : 

THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN, AND COMMON COUNCIL, IN 1850. 



No. 5, EXCHANGE. 

"Alderman George H. Horsfall... 4 

Charles Turner 1 

Thomas Littledale 2 

James Tyrer 3 

No. 6, CASTLE-STREET. 

Alderman Thomas Dover 4 

James Steams 1 

James Ry ley 2 

Thomas Avison 3 

No. 7, ST. PETER'S. 

Alderman James Parker 1 

James Holme 1 

Charles T. Bowring 2 

David Rae 3 

No. 8. PITT-STREET. 
Alderman Thomas Robinson... 4 

W.P.Jeffreys 1 

Samuel R. Graves 2 

Thomas Ridley 3 

*H 2 



William Preston, 

No. 1, EVERTON AND KIRK- years 
DALE WARD. to serve 

Alderman Thomas Chilton 4 

John Johnson Stitt 1 

Daniel Crosthwaite 2 

T. D. Anderson 3 

No. 2, SCOTLAND. 

Alderman William Bennett 4 

John Woodruff 1 

James Crellin 2 

Richard Sheil 3 

No. 3, VAUXHALL. 

Alderman William Preston 4 

John Shimmin 1 

Christopher James Corbally 2 

Roger Haydock 3 

No. 4, ST. PAULS. 

Alderman Thomas Bold 1 

Oliver Holden 1 

Wilham Barton 2 

John Clerk 3 



, Esq., Mayor. 
No. 9, GREAT GEORGE years 

WARD. T« SERVE. 

Alderman Joseph Cooper 1 

Alexander Shand 1 

Thomas Wagstaff 2 

John Rogers 3 

No. 10, RODNEYSTREET. 

Alderman J. H. Turner 4 

J. A. Tobin 1 

Charles Mozley 2 

Thomas Bulley Job 3 

No. 11, ABERCROMBY. 

Alderman R. C. Gardner 1 

William Earle 1 

Robert Hutchison 2 

Robertson Gladstone 3 

No. 12, LIME-STREET. 
Alderman J. B. Moore, M. P.... 1 

James Reddecliffe Jeffery 1 

James Johnson 2 

J. A. Picton 3 



No. 13, ST. ANNE'S. 

Alderman Francis Shand 1 

James Mellor 1 

Joseph Kitchen 2 

T. Llewelyn Hodson « 3 

No. 14, WEST DERBY. 

Alderman R, W. Houghton 4 

F.A.Clint 1 

R. M. Beckwith ... 2 

John Aikin 3 

No. 15. SOUTH TOXTETH. 

Alderman Thomas Toulmin 1 

James Robertson 1 

John Stewart 2 

John Farnworth 3 

No. 16, NORTH TOXTETH. 

Alderman Samuel Holme 1 

j William Hollis Anthony ] 

Thomas Vernon 2 

John Wakefield Cropper 3 



.'<+ 



90 



THE COMMITTEES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL, 

The Town Council meets once a month — on the first 
Wednesday of the month — for the discharge of the more 
general duties of municipal government, and as much 
oftener as its public duties may render desirable. One 
principal object of its monthly meetings is to confirm, 
modify, or disallow (as it may think right), the proceed- 
ings of the various committees which it appoints at the 
commencement of each municipal year, and to which it 
commits the working out, in detail, of the various depart- 
ments of local government, subject to the revision and 
approval of the whole body in council assembled. The 
following is a list of the several departments into which 
the Town Council divides its municipal duties, and of the 
committees to which it entrusts the carrying out of each of 
them. 

DEPARTMENTS AND COMMITTEES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL. 

The Mayor is, ex-officio, a member of all committees. 

1. Finance — John Stewart, Chairman ; Samuel Holme, Deputy- 
Chairman ; John Bramley-Moore, M.P., James Parker, John H Turner, 
Joseph Cooper, James Tyrer, Thomas Toulmin, Thomas Dover, James 
A. Tobin, "William Earle, John Aikin, Francis Shand, James Steains, 
Richard Sheil, J Farnworth. — Meets every Friday, at 12 o'clock, at the 
Town Hall. 

2. Watch, Lighting, Fire Police and Fire Prevention, Hackney 
Carriage and Licensing, and Gas — Francis A Clint, Chairman ; Jas 
Johnson, Deputy-Chairman ; Joseph Kitchen, R W Houghton, W P 
Jeffreys, T Bold, James Robertson, C J Corbally, John Farnworth, 
John Aikin, James Steains, J J Stitt, A. Shand, S R Graves, W 
Barton, J W Cropper, T B Job, Robert Hutchison, John Woodruff, 
T. L. Hodson. — Meets every Saturday, at 12 o'clock, at the Town Hall. 



91 



3. Law Courts — J Hayward Turner, Chairman ; John Stewart, 
Deputy-Chairman ; J Bramley-Moore, M.P., J A Picton, Jas Parker, 
Samuel Holme, William Earle, Thomas Avison, Thomas Littledale. — 
Meets every alternate Thursday, at the Town Hall, at 1 o'clock. 

4. Markets — James Johnson, Chairman ; John Woodruff, Deputy- 
Chairman ; R M Beckwith, Thomas Chilton, Robertson Gladstone, 
Oliver Holden, Richard Sheil, C T Bowring, C J CorbaUy, John 
Shimmin, Thomas Ridley, Roger Haydock. — Meets every alternate 
Monday, at 11 o'clock, at the Town Hall. 

5. Education— T D Anderson, Chairman ; R C Gardner, Deputy- 
Chairman ; Thomas Wagstaff, W P Jeffreys, Alexander Shand, James 
Robertson, S R Graves, Daniel Crosthwaite, J Farnworth, Joseph 
Kitchen, F A Clint, Robert Hutchinson, J W Cropper, Thos Ridley, 
J Clerk. — Meets every Friday previous to Council, at 1 o'clock, at the 
Town Hall. 

6. Gaol — The Mayor, Chairman ; John Stewart, John H Turner, 
Robertson Gladstone, Samuel Holme, Charles Turner, Thomas D 
Anderson, James A Tobin, Oliver Holden, James Parker, George H 
Horsfall, R W Houghton, James R Jeffery, Thomas Yernon, Wm Earle, 
F Shand, Robert Hutchison, R Sheil, J Tyrer, T Chilton, T Rogers.— 
Meets the second Tuesday in every month, at 11 o'clock, at the 
Town Hall. 

7. Town Hall Establishment — The Mayor, Chairman ; John Bram- 
ley-Moore, M.P., S Holme, John H Turner, J A Tobin, R C Gardner, 
G H Horsfall, Thomas Littledale, John Stewart, Francis Shand, James 
Holme, J W Cropper, Charles Turner. 

8. Health — Thomas Dover, Chairman ; Richard Sheil, Deputy-Chair- 
man ; Robertson Gladstone, Thomas L Hodson, Roger Haydock, J J 
Stitt, Oliver Holden, WH Anthony, Richard M Beckwith, C T Bowring, 
Thomas Vernon, William Barton, Daniel Crosthwaite, James Crellin, 
James Holme, T Avison, J Clerk. — Meets every Thursday, at 11 
o'clock, at the Town Hall. 

9. Water — T L Hodson, Chairman ; William Earle, Deputy-Chair- 
man ; John Woodruff, Thomas Wagstaff, John Farnworth, William 
Bennett, Thomas Chilton, James Mellor, J R Jeffrey, James Crellin, 
James Ryley, J J Stitt, Thomas Yernon, Charles Turner, James Holme, 
David Rae. — Meets every Monday, at 2 J o'clock, at the Town Hall. 

10. Gardens and Library and Museum — James A Picton, Chair- 
man ; Richard M Beckwith, Deputy-Chairman ; William Bennett, Wm. 
Earle, James Steains, Joseph Kitchen, Charles Mozley, Charles T Bow- 
ring, C J Corbally, William Brown, M.P., George Holt, Thomas Avison, 
T B Job, David Rae, Richard C Gardner, J. Ryley. — Meets every 



92 



Thursday at the Central Library, at 9 o'clock, a.m., and at the Town 
Hall on the last Friday in the month, at 2\ o'clock. 

11. Baths — Thomas Wagstaff, Chairman; James Parker, Deputy- 
Chairman ; Walter P Jeffreys, S R Graves, William Barton, James 
Crellin, Charles Mozley, Thomas Robinson, D Rae, R W Houghton. — 
Meets every Monday, at 12 o'clock, at the Town Hall. 

12. Improvement (Special) — William Earle, Chairman ; William 
Bennett, Deputy-Chairman ; John Aikin, T Bold, R Gladstone, S R 
Graves, S Holme, J R Jeffery, Charles Mozley, J A Picton, R Shell, 
James Steams, J Stewart, C T Bowring, James Holme. 

1 3. Special Committee on Removal oe Public Offices — C Turner, 
Chairman ; James Ryley, Deputy-Chairman ; Robertson Gladstone, 
William Earle, J A Picton, Richard Sheil, Thomas L Hodson, John 
Aikin, John Stewart, Thomas Dover, Samuel Holme, J R Jeffery, F A 
€lint. 

The council and its committees are aided by the fol- 
lowing officers in the administration of the government 



of the borough : 



OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION. 

Gilbert Henderson, Esq., Recorder 

Edward James, Esq., Q.C., Assessor of the Court of Passage 
John Smith Mansfield, Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate 
Mr. Wm. Shuttleworth, Town-clerk, Prosecuting Solicitor, and Registrar 
of the Court of Passage 
„ John Weightman, Surveyor 
.„ Archibald Tweedie, Treasurer 
„ James Newlands, Borough Engineer 
„ Peter Wright, Clerk of the Peace 
„ Philip Finch Curry, Coroner 
„ John H. Bally, Auditor 
„ John Wybergh, Jun., and Mr. Philip Fred. Garnett, Clerks to the 

Magistrates 
„ John Fleet, Sergeant-at-Mace 
Major John James Greig, Head Constable 
Mr. William Jameson, Governor of the Borough Gaol and House of 

Correction 
Rev. Thomas Carter, Chaplain of the Borough Gaol and House of 
Correction 



93 



Mr. Fras. Archer, Surgeon of the Borough Gaol and House of Correction 
,, Thomas White, Treasurer under the provisions of the Health, 

Water, and Improvement Acts 
„ Thomas Duncan, Engineer of the Water Works 
„ John Rodgers, In-door Manager of the Water Works 
„ Thomas Fresh, Inspector of Nuisances 



THE ADMINISTKATION OF JUSTICE. 

The Mayor and his predecessor are ex-officio magis- 
trates of the borough, hut from the immense extent of 
business, and the necessity for sound legal knowledge and 
uniformity of decision, in the administration of justice, to 
so large a community, and in so great a variety of ques- 
tions as come before the bench, it has been found desirable 
to appoint a permanent stipendiary magistrate, to preside 
from day to day, with a bench of magistrates to assist him. 
The following is a list of the public officers and magistrates 
to whom this important branch of local government is 
entrusted : 

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR THE BOROUGH. 



William Preston, Esq., Mayor 

Gilbert Henderson, Esq., Eecorder 

John Smith Mansfield, Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate 

Francis Shand, Esq. 

Samuel Holme, Esq. 

William Earle, Esq. 

William Eathbone, Esq. 

H Earle, Esq. 

Joseph C Ewart, Esq., M.P. 

E Cropper, Esq. 

R Benn, Esq. 

George Holt, Esq. 

Hugh Hornby, Esq. 

C Chaloner, Esq. 



James H Smith, Esq. 
C Turner, Esq. 
Thomas Sands, Esq. 
G Grant, Esq. 
T W Eathbone, Esq. 
William Dixon, Esq. 
Edward Heath, Esq. 
John Stewart, Esq. 
T D Anderson, Esq. 
J A Tobin, Esq. 
C S Parker, Esq. 



u 



James Aikin, Esq. 
Thomas Bolton, Esq. 
Henry Romilly, Esq. 
E Evans, Esq. 
George Hall Lawrence, Esq. 
J H Turner, Esq. 
Robertson Gladstone, Esq. 
J Crosthwaite, Esq. 
James Stitt, Esq. 
F A Hamilton, Esq. 
J E, Jeffery, Esq. 
Richard Sheil, Esq. 
William Brown, Esq., M.P. 
David Hodgson, Esq. 
John Buck Lloyd, Esq. 
Robert Rankin, Esq. 



Alfred Castellain, Esq. 

Raymond Wm. Houghton, Esq. 

Lawrence Peel, Esq. 

Robert Hutchison, Esq. 

Thomas Chilton, Esq. 

James Tyrer, Esq. 

John Torr, Esq. 

James Holme, Esq. 

T B Barclay, Esq. 

Daniel Mather, Esq. 

A Hodgson, Esq. 

James Mellor, Esq. 

William Nicol, Esq, 

Stanley Percival, Esq. 

Sir Joshua Walmsley, Kt., M.P. 



THE CORPORATE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE. 

The business of the finance committee of the corpora- 
tion is at once that of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 
of a steward. The committee has to look to the providing 
and the administering of ways and means, and to exercise 
a general superintendence over the estate of the corpora- 
tion. This estate consists of money owing to the corpora- 
tion by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, of ground and 
other rents at Liverpool and in the neighbourhood, of fines 
on the renewal of leases in market dues and tolls, and of fines 
inflicted in the administration of justice. Previous to the 
year 1858 the corporation possessed a revenue of from 
£120,000 to £135,000 a year, derived from the ancient 
dues of the crown, more recently known as town dues ; 
but by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Act of 1857 this 
revenue was transferred to the Mersey Docks and Harbour 
Board, to be applied to harbour purposes, on payment to 
the corporation of the sum of £1,500,000, and on condi- 



95 

tion of purchasing the Birkenhead docks, at the price 
which the corporation had paid for them, and of completing 
those docks. The corporation still possess valuable landed 
property at Birkenhead, as well as in Liverpool and in the 
neighbourhood, and other property, producing, in the whole, 
an income of upwards of £103,960 a year. 

The income of the corporation stated below is expended, 
as will be seen, for various purposes of public utility ; 
partly, according to the provisions of several acts of par- 
liament; partly, at the discretion of the Town Council. The 
principal head of expenditure is that which relates to 
police, the prevention of crime, and the administration 
of justice. This head of expenditure, which absorbs more 
than one-third of the income of the corporation, will be 
found stated under its various items, in the account of the 
corporate expenditure, given below. Next in extent and 
importance is the expenditure for sanitary purposes, and 
this is followed by various items of expenditure, also 
enumerated, of great public utility. 

The following is the estimate of the income and expen- 
diture of the corporation for the present year as laid before 
the Town Council by the finance committee : 

"At a meeting of the finance committee, holden on 
Friday, the 28th day of January, 1859, present, Mr. John 
Stewart, chairman, &c, the following report having been 
read, resolved, that the same is approved, and that it 
be printed, with the data on which it is founded, and that 
a copy be sent to every member of the council. 

" The financial sub-committee appointed to consider the 
probable income and expenditure of the corporation during 
the present municipal year, (commencing on the 1st of 



96 



September, 1858, and ending on the 31st of August, 
1859,) report as follows : 

REPORT ON THE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE OF THE 
CORPORATION. 

" That they have investigated the accounts of the corporation, and 
considered the state of the income and expenditure. 

" That they are of opinion that the income of the 
corporate estate, from all sources, cannot be estimated 
for the current year at more than £103,960 

" That the amount of obligatory expenditure cannot 
be estimated at less for the current year than 83,820 0- 

Leaving a gross surplus of £20,140 

"And that the continuance of 
branches of discretionary expenditure (the 
schools, the public charities, &c.) for 
the public benefit of the inhabitants, 
hitherto sanctioned annually by the 

council, may be stated at £6,277 

"And also sundry improvements 

already sanctioned by the council 3,300 

9,577 

Leaving as available surplus £10,563 

JOHN STEWART, Chairman of the Sub-Committee. 



ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDING 
31st AUGUST, 1859. 

Actual. Estimate. 

1857-8. 1858-59. 

Interest £13,499 .. per contra. 

Annuities 730 ... £730 

The Mayor 2,000 ... 2,000 

Salaries and Stipends 3,508 ... 4,285 

General Law, and Parliamentary Expenses ... 3,554 ... 2,100 

Town-clerk's Department 2,915 ... 2,824 

Treasurer's Department 1,156 ... 1,173 

Surveyor's Department 1,801 ... 1,788 



97 



Actual. 
1857-58. 

Leave Looker's Department £466 

Building Surveyor's Department 654 

Weights and Measures Department 434 

Gas Inspector's Department 234 

Town Hall 198 

Sessions House 18 

Establishment of the Town HaU 1,624 

Establishment of the Sessions House 419 

Establishment of the Law Courts and St.) „ 1o , 

George's HaU f d '^ 7 

Judges' Lodgings 549 

The Mayor's Stables and Coach House 22 

St. George's Church 521 

St. Luke's Church 688 

St. Michael's Church 788 

St. Martin's Church 629 

St. Thomas's Church 250 

Public Walks and Gardens 130 

Eates and Taxes 1,896 

Eates under Sanitary Act 5,375 

Exhibition Eooms 150 

Slaughter Houses 240 

Insurance from Fire 621 

Landing Stage 228 

General Eepairs 1,630 

Conservancy of Biver Mersey 1,687 

General Disbursements 

Municipal and Parliamentary Expenses 

Constabulary Force and Police Expenses 

Lighting and Fire Police Expenses 

Establishment of Borough Gaol 

Prosecutions at Assizes and Sessions 

Coroner's Inquests 

County Expenses 

County Court Prisoners' Expenses 

Baths and Wash-houses, Paul-street 

Wash-houses, Frederick- street 

Incidental Expenses of Baths and Wash-houses 
Observatory 



Estimate. 
1857-59. 

£466 
680 
450 
153 
350 
30 

1,723 
420 

2,000 

550 

100 

1,000 

688 

736 

630 

250 

300 

2,473 

5,375 

240 
668 

1,600 



769 .. 


774 


466 .. 


470 


23,701 .. 


20,058 


2,426 .. 


1,000 


9,733 .. 


10,386 


721 .. 


6,300 


1,292 .. 


1,300 


7,118 .. 


7,000 


142 .. 


150 


243 .. 


150 


715 .. 


300 


164 .. 


150 


145 .. 


— 


£99,378 


£83,820 



* I 



08 



ESTIMATED INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDING 

31st AUGUST, 1859. 

Actual. Estimate. 

1857-58. 1857-59. 

Interest Account ... £26,061 

Town Dues and Anchorage £43,839 ... 47 

Town Dues and Anchorage at Runcorn 1,002 ... — 

Fines for Leases 23,170 ... 20,000 

Fines for Coal Vaults, Ovens, and Areas 528 ... 100 

Markets 7,910 ... 7,465 

Reserved Rents — ... 3,042 

Ground Rents 382 ... 500- 

Tenants at Will 10,133 ... 10,424 

Tobacco Warehouse 6,348 ... 6,292 

River Craft Dock 2,514 ... 2,475 

Improvements, Wapping 287 ... 300 

Estate, Wapping 2,368 ... 2,393 

Ditto, Newsham-house 1,186 ... 1,140 

Ditto, Yellow-house 378 ... 140 

Ditto, Green-lane 45 ... 100 

Ditto, Birkenhead 6,095 ... 6,226 

Magazines at Discard 98 .... 98 

Cottages at Walton 320 ... 333 

Magistrates' Clerks 2,717 ... 2,778 

Fines on Summary Convictions, &c 2,919 ... 3,130 

Baths, Cornwallis-street 123 ... 250 

Ditto, Pierhead 749 ... 600 

Pinfold Dues 19 ... 15 

Chain Testing Machine 13 ... 50 

Lighthouse, Rock Perch 1 ... I 

Prosecutions at Assizes and Sessions — ... 10,000 



£113,093 £103,960 



IMPROVEMENTS MADE AND WORKS EXECUTED 
BY THE CORPORATION. 

In a town like Liverpool, in which the population is 
increasing at the rate of 10,000 inhabitants every year, and 
in which streets are spreading out for miles in all directions, 



99 



and houses are rising by the thousand yearly, nothing 
but the most unremitting attention can prevent errors in 
the construction of houses, streets, and sewers, fatal to all 
sanitary progress. 

The work in this department of the public service never 
ceases. There is constantly a great extent of sewerage in 
course of construction, averaging nearly 1 5 miles a year. 
There is besides the drainage of houses, where the owners 
have failed to comply with the notice of the council. The 
paving works, too, are constantly progressing, for besides 
the repairs, there is the work of remodelling the form of the 
streets, and substituting new set paving for the old boulders. 
Every new street that is laid, and every house that is built, 
must be conformable to levels furnished by the engineer, 
and these are considered with reference to an improved 
system of levels throughout the borough. 

Since 1847, 258 new streets, containing an area of 
40,128 superficial yards, have been paved by the council, at 
the expense of the owners, besides those which have been 
paved by the owners themselves. At the time when the 
sanitary act came into operation, the number of streets in 
Liverpool was 1,405, and the total length of sewers and 
drains of every description was 53 miles 114 yards. But 
these sewers and drains were only outlets for surface water, 
and many of them were badly constructed. 

The length of sewers and main drains which have been 
constructed since 1847, is 146 miles; including a main 
outlet sewer, probably the largest work in the country, 
being six miles long, and for a great portion of its length, 
six feet high, and four feet wide. The cost of the sewers 
and drains has been ^£21 5,231. 



100 

The defects of the old sewers have been remedied, and 
many of them re- constructed. The gutters, which were 
large receptacles for filth, have been remodelled on better 
principles. 

All the new and many of the old sewers have been 
ventilated. 

The paving works are of vast extent. No less than 
635,148 yards of set paving, of the best kind, have been 
substituted for an equal extent of old rough boulders, and 
84,088 yards of footpaths have been substantially flagged. 
The cross section of the streets has been materially im- 
proved. Formerly the cross section used to be made so 
round, that the only safe path for a vehicle was the centre, 
of the street, and huge water channels formed of rough 
boulders, with a deep breaching next the footpath, not only 
diminished partially the width of the road, but were abso- 
lutely dangerous. Now the street is so level across that 
every part of it is available for traffic, and the channels are 
formed with large tramways, which are not only easily kept 
clean, but serve as an auxiliary to the footpaths. 

A great number of public conveniences of the best 
construction have been erected throughout the town, and 
have had the effect of removing nuisances and enforcing 
decency. 

The slaughter houses, by means of ventilation, drain- 
age floors of non-absorbent materials, the laying on of 
water, and the enforcement of periodical cleansing, have 
been rendered as little objectionable as possible. 

The number of scavengers has been so much augmented 
as to render cleansing and watering the streets possible, 
and this has been so aided by the extension of the sewer- 



101 



age, and the improved paved surface, that although the 
number of streets in the borough has increased from 1,405, 
in 1847, to 2,002 in 1858, the cost of scavenging has 
diminished from upwards of £14,000 in the former to 
£10,207 in the latter year. 

The increased supply of water, and the introduction of 
an improved apparatus, permits the street watering to be 
efficiently performed. 

It will be seen that in all these works public health and 
public convenience have been the conjoined objects. 

Three years ago all the houses in the borough were 
re-numbered on a uniform system. Taking the Town 
Hall as the starting point, the line of Dale- street, London- 
road, and Kensington (a line running east and west) was 
made the division between the northern and southern parts 
of the borough. The numbers of the streets running east 
•and west, commence at the river or west end ; the numbers 
in those running north and south, begin at the division 
mentioned; in the northern division they increase from 
London-road line northwards, and in the southern division 
from the same line southwards. The odd numbers are on 
the left, and the even numbers are on the right hand side 
of the street going from the Town Hall, or from the line 
above mentioned. The alterations involved the painting 
or affixing 40,538 new numbers, which, together with lists 
of the alterations made for the Postoffice, and other public 
bodies, cost a sum of £875 5s. 9d. 

The lighting of the town is under the inspection of the 
borough engineer, and the treasurer to the health and 
watch committees. 

The public lamps are upwards of 4,000 in number, 
*i2 



102 

besides the large lamps erected in open places, or where 
streets intersect each other. Of these there are eleven 
already erected, and five more about to be erected. One of 
these is intended to be placed in London-road, near the 
end of Greek- street. In place of the steps which serve as 
a base for the others, this is to have a granite base, with 
fountains. The work is in progress. 

It is proposed to substitute wide iron bridges over the 
canal for the dangerously contracted stone bridges which 
now exist. 

PROPOSED PUBLIC OFFICES. 

It has been proposed to concentrate in one building in 
Dale-street, all the offices connected with the municipal 
government of the town ; the corporate estate, the water 
supply, the cleansing and lighting, the surveillance of build- 
ings, the inspection of nuisances, the inspection and testing 
of gas meters, the suppression of smoke, the licensing 
of hackney carriages and badge porters, the paving, and 
sewerage, and sanitary matters generally, all of which are 
at present inconveniently scattered in various localities, 
distant from each other. In the situation proposed, they 
would be in immediate proximity to the police establish- 
ment and magistrates' courts, and the business centre of 
the town. No final decision has been come to on this 
subject. 

PUBLIC BATHS AND WASH-HOUSES. 

There are three public bathing establishments in Liver- 
pool, and two public washing establishments. 



103 



The corporation have incurred a large expenditure for 
the purpose of supplying the means of comfort, health, and 
•cleanliness, by means of baths and washhouses. 

The salt-water baths, at St. George's Pierhead, contain 
a gentleman's plunge bath and a lady's plunge bath, with 
suites of private baths, both cold and hot. The water used 
is carefully filtered through gravel beds, and is beautifully 
clear. These baths were built at a cost of £27,772, on 
land of the value of £10,048. They are used by between 
40,000 to 50,000 persons yearly. 

The Paul-street Baths, also built by the corporation, 
cover 1,620 yards of land, and are constructed of brick, in 
the Elizabethan style, with stone plinths and cornices. 
There are plunge baths both for males and females, 
with 34 separate baths, and 4 vapour baths. The private 
baths are of slate, with the exception of three, in the upper 
story, of white marble, for which different prices are 
charged. 

At the rear of these baths, and separated from them by a 
yard, there are six washing houses, of one story in height, 
and containing a boiler and washing vessels, lighted by sky- 
lights, and having air tubes in the floor and ventilation in 
the roof. In a part of the site furthest removed from these 
wash-houses, there is a building for washing infected 
clothing. The cost of the Paul- street Baths, which were 
ouilt entirely for the use of the poor, and are in a great 
measure free, was upwards of £10,000. 

The Comwallis- street Baths consist of three large plunge 
baths (1st, 2d, and 3d class), and numerous separate baths. 
The terms of admission for bathers are very moderate — Id., 
3d., and 6d., for cold baths, and 2d., 6d., to Is., for warm 



104 

baths. These useful and agreeable baths are used by 
upwards of 100,000 persons yearly. 

In addition to these three suites of baths, there are 
wash-houses erected by the corporation in Paul-street and 
Frederick- street, for the use of poor families. 

MEASURES FOR INSURING THE PUBLIC HEALTH. 

Up to the year 1848, Liverpool had the evil reputation 
of being the most unhealthy town in the kingdom ; nearly 
every year it was scourged by typhus fever, and other 
diseases arising from impure air, bad drainage, damp 
houses, poverty, and bad diet. Since that time the whole 
town has been re-drained and re-sewered at a cost of 
upwards of dB200,000, many hundred thousand pounds 
have been expended in bringing an additional supply of 
water from a distance of between twenty and thirty miles, 
the lowest class of the population have been compelled to 
abandon the wretched cellars in which they formerly lived, 
and the most unremitting care has been exercised in 
removing every nuisance dangerous to the public health. 
Immense results have already been achieved ; and, though 
much remains to be done, the efforts to effect it never cease. 
In the four years (1837-40) immediately subsequent to the 
passing of the Registration Act (Births and Deaths), one 
person in every 450 of the inhabitants of Liverpool died 
annually from fever, whilst in the four years, between 1853 
and 1856, not more than one in 1038 died. 

The following table will show how prodigious is the 
difference in the rate of mortality in the different districts 
of the town. This depends partly on the nature of the 



105 



locality and the construction of the streets and houses, but 
still more on the rank, means, and habits of the people. 
The ages at death, in 1856, were as follows : — Below 
1 year, 3,017; 1 to 2 years, 1,519 ; 2 to 5 years, 1,473 ; 
5 to 15 years, 746 ; 15 to 20 years, 252 ; 20 to 40 years, 
1,668; 40 to 60 years, 1,640; 60 to 80 years, 1,048; 
above 80 years, 178 ; unknown, 33. 



RATE OF MORTALITY IN THE DIFFERENT WARDS OF THE 
BOROUGH IN 1856. 



Wards, &c. 



Deaths. 



In 10,000 
Inhabitants. 



Vauxhall 

St. Anne's , 

Exchange 

Scotland 

Lime-street 

St. Paul's 

Great George 

Castle-street 

Pitt-street 

Abercromby 

Kodney-street 

St. Peter's 

Workhouse and Fever Hospital. 
Hospitals 



Parish of Liverpool. 



Everton and Kirkdale 

South Toxteth 

West Derby 

North Toxteth 

Workhouse and Fever Hospital. 

Kirkdale Gaol 

Industrial Schools 



Out Townships. 
Borough of Liverpool. 



863 
738 
475 
2061 
425 
379 
482 
199 
265 
435 
421 
184 
908 
346 

8181 

1065 

867 
588 
661 
196 
7 
9 

3393 

11,574 



394 
355 
334 
314 
290 
287 
284 
270 
257 
233 
221 
217 



299 

"247 
240 
211 

208 



227 
273 



With regard to sex ; of those who died during the year, 
6,062 were males; 5,212 females — -the death-rate heing for 



106 

the former 296, and for the latter 253 in 10,000. Of 16 
who died at the age of 90 and upwards, 14 were females; 
one of these — formerly a domestic servant — being recorded 
as " about 100 years old" at the time of her death. 

The births registered during the year in the parish were 
9,270, being 80 more than in the preceding year, and giving 
an excess of 1,089 over the deaths. In the out toimships 
the births were about 5,584, or 240 more than in the year 
preceding, and giving an excess over deaths of 2, 1 9 1 . The 
total births in the borough were thus 14,854, and the 
excess of births over deaths 3,280, leaving about double 
that amount to be added to the population of Liverpool by 
immigrants from other parts. The births were in the pro- 
portion of 35 to every 1,000 inhabitants; in the metropolis 
the proportion was 33 in 1,000. 

MORTALITY OF LIVERPOOL IN THE YEARS 1857 AND 1858. 

The deaths in Liverpool, in 1857, were 12,951, being 
1,377 more than in the previous year, when, however, the 
mortality was lower than in any year previously recorded. 
The death-rate was a fraction under 30 in the 1,000. 

The mortality was, in the March quarter 3,024 

June 2,840 

September 3,429 

December 3,658 

From diseases of the zymotic (infectious or contagious) 
class the deaths were 3,488, being about the average of 
the preceding five years, but 418 more than in 1856. 

Fever caused 424 deaths, being 82 more than in the 
year preceding, when the mortality from this disease was 



107 

unprecedentedly low. The deaths were in the ratio of 1 in 
1,021 of the population. 

Diseases of the lungs caused 3,887 deaths, of which 
1,547 were from consumption. Under this head, as com- 
pared with the previous year, there is an increase of 467. 

In 1858 the deaths in the horough were estimated at 
13,937, giving a death-rate of 31 in 1,000, about the average 
of the preceding five years, but considerably less than that 
of the ten years preceding. 

This increased mortality, as compared with the three 
previous years, seems to have been chiefly caused by the 
severe weather which prevailed in the months of February 
and March, and by an epidemic of scarlatina, which has 
been more prevalent and fatal than any with which Liver- 
pool has been visited since 1848, having carried off 1,175 
children and 1 1 adults. The deaths from zymotic diseases, 
including 1,150 from scarlatina, are estimated at 4,258. 
Of these 544 (estimated) were from fever, being a greater 
number than in any of the five preceding years, but still 
giving a death-rate little more than one-half of the annual 
average previous to the operation of the Sanatory Act. 

From diseases of the lungs (including 1,618 from 
consumption), the deaths were (estimated) 4,054. 

CRIME — ITS DETECTION AND PUNISHMENT. 

The whole number of indictable crimes committed in 
the borough of Liverpool, in the year ended the 29th Sep- 
tember, 1858, was 5,012. Nearly nine-tenths of these were 
larcenies of one kind or another, the number of offences 
against the person being small. The following list and 



108 



classification of the offences committed in the above year is 
from the last annual report published by the watch com- 
mittee and drawn up by the head constable of the borough 
Major J. J. Greig : 

INDICTABLE OFFENCES COMMITTED IN THE BOROUGH OF 
LIVERPOOL IN THE YEAR ENDED 29TH SEPTEMBER, 1858. 



Offences. 



No. of 
Cases 



Total of 
Criminals. 



Murder 

Attempts to murder 

Shooting at, wounding, stabbiDg, &c. to do bodily harm 

Manslaughter 

Attempt to procure miscarriage 

Concealing the births of infants 

Unnatural offence 

Rape 

Assaults, with intent 

Bigamy 

Child stealing 

Assault and inflicting bodily harm 

Assaults on peace officers 

Assaults, common 

Burglary and house-breaking 

Breaking into shops, warehouses, &c 

Attempts to break into houses, shops, warehouses, &c. 

Robbery on the highway 

Attempts to rob on the highway, and demanding 1 

money by menaces J 

Horse-stealing 

Cattle-stealing 

Larceny to the value of £5 in dwelling-houses 

Larceny from the person 

Larceny by servants 

Larceny on rivers, canals, wharfs, &c 

Larceny, simple 

Stealing fixtures, shrubs growing, &c 

Attempts to steal 

Embezzlement 

Larcenies by servants in the postoffice | 

Receiving stolen goods ' 

Frauds, and attempts to defraud 

Forging, and uttering forged instruments 

Coining, and having implements for coining 

Uttering, putting off, and having counterfeit coin. ... 

Arson and other wilful burning j 

Keeping disorderly houses 

Perjury I 

Other Felonies, viz. : 
Robbery and wounding (sentence of death recorded) 

Seducing a girl, accompanied by larceny ' 

Other Misdemeanors, viz.: 

Intimidating workmen 

Neglecting family j 

Total 



3 
1 

200 

9 

1 

3 

1 

4 

21 

5 

3 

52 

10 

1 

28 

36 

4 

33 



3 

1 

22 

827 

97 

96 

867 

3 

7 
57 

5 
99 
116 
15 

3 
94 

2 
21 

8 

1 

1 

5 

1 



Male 
4 
1 
122 
9 
1 



Fem. 



3 

1 

13 

205 

54 

121 

485 

7 

8 

57 

5 

45 

97 

13 

1 

56 

1 

5 

3 

2 

1 

5 

1 



12 



12 



1 
805 



533 



2771 1553 1742 3295 ! 



M. & F. 
5 

1 
205 

10 
1 
3 
1 
4 

24 
5 
3 

60 

11 
1 

42 

67 
4 

54 



3 

1 

27 

1010 

105 

130 

1018 

7 

8 

57 

5 

108 

132 

16 

3 

117 

2 

3 



109 



The number of persons apprehended by the police or 
others on charges arising out of the above crimes, was 
2,968, of whom 939 were discharged for want of evidence, 
and the remainder committed, or bound over to take their 
trials. 

The number of persons convicted at the sessions or 
assizes, of offences connected with the borough of Liver- 
pool, was 966. 

The number of persons proceeded against for offences 
punishable by summary conviction were 21,612. 

Of the persons apprehended by the police 5,486 
belonged to Liverpool, 4,861 to other parts of England, 
8,799 to Ireland, 1,011 to Scotland, 791 to Wales, 142 to 
the Isle of Man, and 899 to foreign countries. 



THE LIVERPOOL CONSTABULARY. 

This admirably organized force is under the command 
of Major Greig, the high constable. The Liverpool Con- 
stabulary (or police) consists of 973 officers and men. 
It is constituted as follows: — 1 high constable; 2 divisional 
superintendents; 1 in-door superindent; 6 superinten- 
dents; 1 superintendent of the fire brigade; 1 governor 
of the main bridewell; 47 inspectors; 12 clerks; 31 
bridewell keepers; 18 detective constables; 113 constables 
of the first class; 670 constables of the second class; 
and 70 constables of the third class: total, 973. Of the 
officers and men composing this force, 581 are natives of 
England; 234 of Ireland; 94 of Scotland ; and 61 of 
Wales. 

* K 



110 



THE FIRE BRIGADE. 

The Liverpool Fire Brigade consists of 1 superinten- 
dent and 122 firemen. The superintendent of the fire 
brigade resides at the Central Station, in Hatton- garden, 
and two firemen and one waterman are continually on duty 
there. At each of the other fire stations there are three 
firemen on the beat, who relieve each other alternately. 
There are twelve fire stations, namely : — 1st, the Central 
Station, Hatton- garden, Dale-street; 2nd, the Prince's 
Dock Station, north end; 3rd, the Collingwood Dock 
Station ; 4th, the Sandon Graving Dock Station ; 5th, the 
Athol-street, Vauxhall-road, Station; 6th, the Eosehill 
Station ; 7th, the Prescot-street, Lowhill, Station ; 8th, the 
Seel-street, off Berry-street, Station; 9th, the Olive-street, 
Windsor, Station; 10th, the Essex- street, Park, Station; 
11th, the Brunswick Dock Station; and 12th, the Salt- 
house Dock Station. The stations are so distributed that 
there is no part of the town more than a mile distant 
from a fire station ; and along the docks, and amongst the 
warehouses and offices, they are much closer. 

The following apparatus for extinguishing fires are kept 
constantly in readiness: — 15 engines, capable of throwing 
water effectively from 80 to 100 feet in perpendicular 
height ; 1 6 reels, with hose to attach to the high-pressure 
mains, capable of throwing water effectively to a perpen- 
dicular height of 40 to 130 feet, according to the elevation 
of the main; 6,469 yards of hose; 1 water cart, con- 
taining a ton of water; 50 stand pipes ; 52 suction pipes; 
65 conducting pipes; 36 hydrant pipes; and 13 elbow 
pipes. There are fire escape ladders and handcarts at each 



Ill 

of the stations, and a large reel carriage at the Central 
Station. 

In consequence of the efficiency of the above arrange- 
ments, of the abundant supply of water at all times, and 
of the improved method of constructing warehouses, there 
has been no great fire in Liverpool for some years, although 
the quantity of cotton, oil, turpentine, pitch, saltpetre, 
spirits, and other inflammable materials brought into the 
port, has prodigiously increased, during the last ten years. 
The only considerable fire in the port last year, was the 
burning of the James Baines, in the Huskisson Dock; but 
the number of fires which broke out, and was extinguished 
without doing any serious amount of injury, was 189. 
The average number of fires yearly, from 1848 to 1858, was 
151, giving a total, for that period, of 1623. 

THE SELECT VESTRY AND THE PARISH 
OF LIVERPOOL. 

The Select Vestry have the management of the affairs of 
the parish, in all that relates to the relief of the poor and to 
the distribution of the large funds raised for that purpose. 

The Select Vestry at the present time is composed of 
the following gentlemen : — 

SELECT VESTRY. 

The Rev. Augustus Campbell, Rector 

Mr William Jones ) ^,, , , 

Mr John W. Cropper } Churchwardens 

Mr William B. Bairstow 

Mr Thomas Owen 0vprs , ppr) , 

Mr James Crellin > Uverseers 



Mr Thomas Smith ) 



112 



Mr Ambrose Byford 
Mr Joseph Cafferata 
Mr Henry James Cook 
Mr James Chesney 
Mr William Critchley 
Mr James Denton 
Mr Thomas Gibson 
Mr John Hand 
Mr Joseph Hughes 



Mr Samuel Peck 
Mr Samuel Richardson 
Mr John Jones 
Mr Thomas Luff 
Mr Henry John Syred 
Mr John Whitby 
Mr James Whitty 
Mr John M. Syers 
Mr Edward Williams 



Mr Samuel B. Jackson Mr Charles W. Shaw 

officers : 
Mr G. H. Thompson, Treasurer J Mr William Bees, District Auditor 

Mr. Charles Hart, Vestry Clerk 

Mr John Evans, Assistant Overseer and Superintendent Relieving Officer 

Messrs R. M'Clelland, James Martindale, Joseph Blewer, Thomas 

Williams, Charles Walker, and George White, Relieving Officers 

Mr Lancelot Hepworth, Out-door Inspector 

Mr Thomas Wylie, Surveyor 



WORKHOUSE. 

Rev Robert Wilson, A.M., Chaplain 
Mr Robert Gee, M.D., Physician | Mr Peter Wm. Leather, Surgeon 
Mr Roger Parker and Mr Richard Jones, Assistant Resident Medical 

Officers 

Mr Shillinglaw, Apothecary 

Mr George Carr, Governor Mrs Eleanor Ritson, Matron 



BURIAL BOARD. 
Mr Enoch Harvey, Clerk 

It appears from the last annual report of the Select 
Vestry, that the amount expended, in the parish of Liver- 
pool, for the relief of the poor, in the year ending the 27th 
March, 1858, was £110,758 3s. 6d. 

On examining the principal items of expenditure, it 
appears that the sum of £39,525 15s. Id. was expended in 



113 

the support of the poor receiving in-door relief in the Work- 
house. The average numher of persons receiving relief in 
the Workhouse, during the twelve months included in the 
account ahove described, was 2,182. This comprises the 
mass of the permanent adult poor of the parish. They are 
supplied in the Workhouse with provisions and other 
necessaries, at a weekly cost of 2s. 7jd. per head, and are 
furnished with clothing at an average cost of 4d. per week, 
or rather more than 17s. per year. 

The pauper children, belonging to the parish, are 
reared and instructed in the Industrial Schools, which are 
established in large and commodious buildings erected for 
that purpose, at Kirkdale, a healthy and agreeable village 
to the north of Liverpool. These schools were established 
there, partly for the purpose of insuring, as far as possible, 
the health and strength of the poor children reared within 
them; partly for the purpose of insuring a good classi- 
fication in the course of their instruction ; and partly to 
keep them free from the contamination, arising from the 
Very indifferent company always found in a Workhouse. 
The charges in respect of the Industrial Schools amounted 
in 1858, to £12,333 14s. 2d. per annum. For this sum, 
an average number of 942 children are instructed and 
maintained. The average weekly cost of each child in the 
Industrial Schools, for provisions and necessaries, is 2s. 
8Jd., and for clothing 4f d., being a little more than the 
cost of the adult paupers in the Workhouse. 

The other charges on the parish amounted in the year 

ended the 27th March, 1858, to £58,898 14s. 3d. The 

most important item of this large amount consists of the 

sums expended in the relief of the out-door paupers. The 

*K2 



114 



average number of out-door paupers during the year was 
10,870, and they were relieved at an average weekly cost 
of Is. Ofd. each. The amounts paid in out-door relief 
were as follows : — To resident poor, and casual applicants, 
£21,992 16s. 6d. in money, and £8,456 Is. 2d. in oread 
from Workhouse. In addition to these items, the cost of 
maintaining pauper lunatics in asylums was £8,443 10s. 8d. ; 
that of maintaining the blind poor in asylums was £172 
5s. lid. ; and that of maintaining the deaf and dumb poor 
in asylums was £131 5s. Od. The sums paid for medical 
relief were £1,370 to district medical officers, £213 10s. to 
dispensers and assistants, £52 for rent of dispensaries, 
£622 5s. lOd. for drugs in the Workhouse, £108 10s. 4d. 
for medical appliances, £424 7s. 5d. for drugs and ap- 
pliances in Kent-street dispensary, and £437 9s. 2d. for 
drugs and appliances in Burlington-street dispensary. 

The total rateable value of the parish of Liverpool, as 
per rate-book, was £1,117,326; the poors-rate amounted 
to 2s. in the pound, and the portion of the rate collected 
amounted to 85 per cent. The poors-rate of 2s. in the 
pound imposed in 1857 produced the sum of £93,863 8s. 4d., 
in addition to which the residue of the rate of 1856, 
amounting to 2s.4d.inthepound,produced£2,675 19s. lid., 
and the residue of the rate of 1855, amounting to 2s. 9d. 
in the pound, produced £14 5s. lid., making the total from 
rates £96,553 14s. 2d. Adding to this the sum of £6,595 
17s. 9d., received from various other sources, the most 
important being a payment of £2,494 10s. 7d. from the 
Treasury, for schoolmaster's and schoolmistresses salaries, 
medical officer's salaries, &c. ; another payment of £1,131 
Is. 3d. for lunatics transferred to county, and £1,548 15s. 4d. 



115 



for interest allowed by treasurer, — the sum total of the 
receipts for the year ending the 27th March, 1858, was 
d£l03,149 lis. lid.; the expenditure, as already stated, 
having been £110,758 3s. 6d. 

The rates raised for the relief of the poor during the 
last twelve months amounted to 2s. 4d. in the pound. 



THE PUBLIC CHAKITIES OF LIVEKPOOL. 

The public charities of Liverpool are most numerous 
and liberal, and are calculated to meet every form of bodily 
distress, and every moral evil, which is capable of being 
mitigated by the action of benevolence. The following are 
the most important of the institutions established for these 
purposes : 

The Eoyal Infirmary, in Brownlow- street, has now 
existed for more than a hundred, years, having been founded 
in the year 1745 ; and has been the means of relieving the 
sufferings, and saving the lives, of many hundred persons, 
yearly, from the time when it was established. Persons 
suffering from violent accidents are admitted into the infir- 
mary any hour of the day or night, without recommendation ; 
and patients suffering from disease are admitted daily, on 
recommendation, between eleven and twelve. 

There is a Lunatic Asylum adjoining the Infirmary 
for the relief of mental maladies. 

The Northern Hospital, in Great Howard- street, and 
the Southern Hospital, in Greenland- street, both in the 
neighbourhood of the docks, were established, the former 
in 1834, the latter in 1842, chiefly for the purpose of 



116 

affording immediate relief, in the numerous cases of accident 
which occur on the dock quays, on board the ships in the 
harbour, in warehouses, and generally in the busiest parts 
of the town. They are both of them open day and night, 
without any recommendation, in cases of accident, except 
the urgency of the distress. The hospitals, like the 
Infirmary, and the other charities of the town, are supported 
by subscriptions, donations, and legacies. 

The North Dispensary, 56, Vauxhall-road, and the 
South Dispensary, 1, Upper Parliament- street, have now 
existed for upwards of eighty years. They were established 
for the purpose of affording advice and supplying medicine 
to the sick poor. In the course of every year these 
excellent institutions relieve about forty thousand persons, 
of whom thirty thousand are relieved at the institutions, 
and ten thousand at their own homes. 

The District Provident Society, 2, Queen's- square, 
was established for the purpose of promoting prudence and 
economy on the part of the poor, and of assisting those 
who are willing to assist themselves. 

The Strangers' Friend Society was established in 
the year 1765, for the purpose of relieving distressed 
families and strangers, and finds ample employment for its 
benevolence, amongst the thousands of destitute persons, 
who every year arrive in the port from different parts of 
the world. 

To prevent the spread of fever, as well as to relieve it 
where it exists, a Fever Hospital has been established in 
Mount-pleasant, near to the Parish Workhouse, and is 
supported from the poor's rates. 

There are also in Liverpool institutions for the relief of 



117 

diseases of the Eye and Ear; a School for the Blind; an 
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb ; a Ladies' Charity and 
Lying-in Hospital ; a Society for Shipwrecked Mariners ; 
Schools and Homes for Orphan Boys and Girls, and many 
others. There are altogether upwards of seventy public 
charities in Liverpool, established for purposes of the 
highest benevolence, and liberally supported by the con- 
tributions of the humane and generous. 

MERCANTILE MARINE SERVICE ASSOCIATION. 

The general objects of this valuable institution are to 
improve the position and education of the commanders 
and officers of the British merchant service, by raising 
the standard of nautical knowledge, the collection of 
approved new works, charts, meteorological and other 
reports, instruments, &c, by establishing schools afloat 
and on shore, for the training and education of those 
entering the service, and by providing refuges for sick, 
worn-out, and disabled members. It also watches all parlia- 
mentary proceedings, questions, and regulations affecting 
the service, and receives and circulates information relating 
thereto. 

The association consists of "members" who are 
masters, officers, and engineers in the merchant service, 
and " associates " who are shipowners, and other persons 
interested in the service. 

The number of members is about 1,000, its affairs are 
managed by a council of not less than 40 members, and 
it has commodious reading and news-rooms at No. 20, 
Water- street. 



118 



THE SCHOOL FRIGATE CONWAY, 

Which belongs to the Mercantile Marine Service Asso- 
ciation, is moored in the Mersey, near the Eock Ferry slip, 
and is intended for the education of boys for the sea service. 
The management of the school is vested in a committee of 
twenty-four, half of whom are merchants or shipowners, 
and half masters nominated from the council of the 
association. 

The boys admitted to the school are — so far as the 
funds of the institution will permit — the sons of deceased 
or destitute masters, officers, and seamen of the merchant 
service whose circumstances will not enable them to pay 
for their education, and boys of any class, intended for the 
sea service, whose friends will pay wholly or in part for 
their maintenance and education. 

The first class of boys are elected by subscribers, of not 
less than one guinea per annum, to the school fund. Sub- 
scribers have one vote for every guinea subscribed, and 
donors of ten guineas or upwards are life members, and 
have one vote for every ten guineas given. 

Donors of fifty pounds or upwards have the nomination 
of a boy, subject to the regulations and approval of the 
committee, — a preference being given to the children of 
■deceased and unfortunate members of the Mercantile 
Marine Association of Liverpool. 

All boys are required to produce satisfactory characters, 
must possess the ordinary rudiments of education, and will 
be subject to inspection as to their physical capacity for 
the service. No boy is taken into the school under the age 
of twelve, nor allowed to remain longer than three years. 



119 

The ordinary course of tuition is reading, writing, 
arithmetic, and the usual branches of a sound English 
education. For such boys as are capable, it will be ex- 
tended to trigonometry, navigation, nautical astronomy, &c. 
The boys are regularly and carefully exercised, and in- 
structed in all the duties of a seaman in a first-class ship. 

THE PUBLIC PLACES OF BUSINESS. 

A large portion of the business of Liverpool is com- 
menced and completed on the Exchange, which is open 
from eight in the morning to eight at night, and is 
especially crowded from two to four in the afternoon. In 
fine weather the flagged area enclosed by the buildings of 
the Exchange is the principal place of business ; but in 
winter and in wet or stormy weather, the business of the 
port is transacted in the Exchange News-room; that 
relating to marine insurance, in the underwriters' room, 
above the Exchange News-room; and that relating to 
stocks and shares, in the Stock Exchange, on the opposite 
side of the Exchange-buildings. The business of the oorn 
trade is transacted in Brunswick- street, in fine weather, in 
offices in stormy weather, and in the Corn Exchange, in 
Brunswick- street, on Tuesdays and Fridays, which are the 
market days of the corn trade. Much of the business of 
the timber trade is transacted in the open air, on the quays, 
in the neighbourhood of the Brunswick Dock, and the rest 
on the Exchange, or in offices. The business of the 
cattle trade is transacted at the cattle market, at Stanley, 
about three miles from Liverpool, where the attendance of 
buyers and sellers and the show of cattle are very great. 



120 



THE LIVERPOOL EXCHANGE. 



The flagged area surrounded by the handsome pile of 
buildings, known as the Exchange-buildings, is the great 
resort of the merchants and brokers of Liverpool, and there 
ten times as much business is commenced and set in 
train, as ever was transacted on the Eialto of Venice, or the 
famous Exchange of Antwerp. The Liverpool Exchange 
differs from the Boyal Exchange of London, in being open 
all day long. The hours of high 'Change are from two to 
four in the afternoon, and many hundreds, and sometimes 
even thousands of merchants, shipowners, brokers, and 
strangers interested in merchandise, assemble, covering the 
the flags of the Exchange area, in fine weather, and crowd- 
ing the spacious news-room, in wet. 

The present Exchange - buildings were erected by a 
spirited body of propietors, who united for this purpose 
in the year 1801. The original capital, amounting to 
^£90,000 was subscribed in a few hours. Last year, the 
proprietors, feeling that the Exchange News-room was no 
longer large enough for the commercial requirements of 
the port, applied for powers to enlarge it. In the course 
of the discussion to which the proposal gave rise, it was 
urged by the Chamber of Commerce, and a large body 
of merchants, that an enlargement was required, on a 
much larger scale than that proposed, or than was possible 
within the limits which were under the control of the com- 
pany of proprietors. A bill was therefore passed, au- 
thorising an enlargement, but leaving the nature and extent 
of that enlargement open for discussion and arrangement, 
until the close of the present session of parliament (1859). 



121 



This will now be the subject of consideration and arrange- 
ment. The general desire is, that justice should be done, 
in a liberal spirit, to those who represent the founders of 
the Exchange-buildings, and, at the same time, that ample 
accommodation should be afforded to the great and rapidly 
increasing mercantile community of Liverpool. 

The number of subscribers to the Exchange News- 
room is 2,665. 

The following is a summary of the financial statement 
of the directors of the Exchange-buildings, as read at the 
general meeting, on the 31st January, 1859. 



Dr. £ a. d. 

To dividend for 1857 on 800 

shares at£9 9s. per share 7,560 
To amount paid in lieu of 

the right of nomination 

to the news-room for 1858 

on 800 shares, at £3 3s. 

per share 2,520 

To disbursements on ac- 
count of the news-room. . 3,462 9 2 
To amount paid on account 

of the building 1,083 11 7 

To parliamentary expenses 1.450 18 11 
To balance 3,858 13 9 

£25,941 13 5 

Contingent fund invested 
in the New 3 per cents . . £5,765 5 1 



Cr. 

Bv Balance of account for 



£ 8. d. 



1857 


8,578 


By amount of subscription 




to news-room, &c 


8,821 9 11 


By rental of building, from 




the 31st December, 1857, 




to 31st December, 1858 


7,091 4 7 


By contingentfund for ex- 




traordinary expenses . . 


1,450 18 11 


£25,941 13 5 


By balance brought down 


9,858 13 9 


Deduct amount to be 




transferred to the con- 




tingentfund 


246 13 9 


Disposable balance. . 


9,612 O 



THE STOCK EXCHANGE. 



The investment of upwards of £300,000,000 in rail- 
ways, and of sums scarcely less enormous, taken in the 
aggregate, in other joint stock companies, has given a very 
great extension to the business of the Liverpool Exchange, 
the business of which is conducted under regulations agreed 
on by all the members, which ensure great regularity and 



122 

promptitude, in the performance of business and the fulfil- 
ment of engagements. 

Stock Exchange, 2, Exchange-buildings 

THE CORN EXCHANGE. 

The Corn Exchange, situated in Brunswick- street, is 
a handsome and commodious building. It was greatly 
enlarged a few years since, and is in every respect well 
fitted for the wants of the important and ever increasing 
trade, for and by which it was erected. The number of 
stands in the Corn Exchange is 151. There are also 
forty-nine gentlemen, or firms, who are allowed to transact 
business, without having stands, on payment of the usual 
subscription. 

COMMEKCIAL ASSOCIATIONS. 

In carrying on so great a commerce and navigation,, 
as that described in the preceding pages, it has been 
found desirable, in many cases, and in some absolutely 
necessary, to form and organise associations and other 
public bodies, to promote objects connected with those 
interests, which are beyond the power of individuals. We 
propose to give a list and a brief sketch of the various 
public bodies. 

THE LIVERPOOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce was established 
in the year 1849, for the following important purposes : 



123 



1st, To promote measures calculated to benefit the 
mercantile and trading interests of its members, and of the 
town and neighbourhood generally. 

2nd, To represent and express the sentiments of the 
•commercial community. 

3rd, To undertake, by arbitration or otherwise, the 
settlement of questions and disputes arising out of trade, 
when submitted to it for decision. 

4th, The chamber being instituted solely for commer- 
cial purposes, all questions of party politics, general or 
local, are excluded. 

In order that these objects might be fully carried out, 
provision is made in the executive of the chamber for due 
representation of the various interests of the town, by the 
appointment, to the council, of deputies from the other 
commercial associations. The council consists of honorary 
members, 21 members elected by the general body of the 
chamber, and 12 deputies from the associations. The 
following are the members of the council : 

Charles Robertson, Esq, President 

W J Tomlinson, and J T Danson, Esqrs, Vice-Presidents 

Robt. Tronson, Esq, Secretary 

The Members of Parliament for the Borough and the Southern Division 

of the County, ex officio 

The Mayor of Liverpool, ex officio 

John Aikin, Esq I C R Hall, Esq 



Thomas Bouch, Esq 
-John Bald, Esq 
Francis Boult, Esq 
F A Clint, Fsq 

C J Corbally, Esq, (Treasurer^) 
Kirkman Finlay, Esq 
Robert Gill, Esq 



C Holland, Esq 
T D Hornby, Esq 
R Hutchison, Esq 
R W Kelly, Esq 
Charles S Parker, Esq 
C E Rawlins, Jun, Esq 
R Sheil, Esq 



-Bernard Hall, Esq Edward Tennant, Esq 



124 

The following is a list of the deputies from the various 

associations : 

African Association Thomas Harrison, Esq 

American Chamber of Commerce C W H Pickering, Esq 

Corn Trade Association E Maxwell, Esq 

Cotton Brokers' Association James Ryley, Esq 

East India and China Association R Duckworth, Esq 

General Brokers' Association H Royds, Esq 

Protection of Wrecks Committee Thomas Gair, Esq 

Shipowners' Association S R Graves, Esq 

Warehouse-keepers' Association Thomas Dover, Esq 

West India Association G Booker, Esq 

Wine and Spirit Association JN Moore, Esq 

The following gentlemen have filled the office of pre- 
sident since the establishment of the chamber, viz. : 

Thomas B. Horsfall Esq, M.P 1850 & 1851 

Hugh Hornby, Esq 1852 

Francis Shand, Esq 1853 

Thomas Bouch, Esq 1854 

Edward Heath, Esq 1855 

Charles Holland, Esq 1856 

John Torr, Esq 1857 

Christopher Bushell, Esq 1858 



SHIPOWNERS ASSOCIATION. 

Each of the associations enumerated above has an 
independent organization, and an independent action, in 
matters affecting its own branch of the public interest. 

The Shipowners' Association represents a great local 
interest, possessed of nearly a million tons of shipping 
(953,955 tons, at the close of 1858). This shipping 
is of the aggregate value of at least £20,000,000, and 
forms one of the principal branches of the mercantile 



125 

marine, the main support of England's naval greatness, and 
national independence. The affairs of this great interest 
are always of importance, and never more so than at the 
present time. The officers of the Liverpool Shipowners' 
Association are : 

S R Graves, Esq, Chairman | Mr T Carson, Secretary and Treasurer 
Office, 2, Talbot Chambers, Fenwick Street 



STEAM-SHIP OWNERS ASSOCIATION. 

The prodigious growth of the steam shipping interest, 

has induced the steam- ship owners of Liverpool to form an 

independent association, for the management of their affairs. 

As already mentioned, the steam tonnage paving dock dues 

in the port of Liverpool amounts to 1,600,000 tons a year, 

which is one-third of the whole tonnage of the port. The 

following are the officers of the association : 

Mr C Mac Iver, Chairman Mr A T Squarey, Secretary 

Office, 1, Exchange-street West 

AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

The American Chamher of Commerce has the manage- 
ment and direction of an immense "branch of the commerce 
of the port, which gives employment to upwards of a million 
tons of shipping, both in the import and the export trade, 
which pays one-third of the dock dues, and forms fully 
one-third of the trade of the port. The officers of this 
association are : 

CWH Pickering, Esq, President 
Henry Stolterfoht, Esq, Treasurer | Mr G J Duncan, Secretary 
Office, 1, Exchange Buildings 
*L 2 



126 



EAST INDIA AND CHINA ASSOCIATION. 

The East India and China Association represents a 
branch of commerce which has already attained to the 
position of the second in the port, and which has increased 
more rapidly during the last five years than it ever did at 
any previous time. This trade now pays nearly £50,000 
a year to the dock revenue. The officers of the East India 
and China Association are : 

Peter Ewart, Esq, Chairman 

Mr J G Livingston, Treasurer | Mr T M Myers, Secretary 

Office, 1, Exchange Buildings 



COTTON BROKERS ASSOCIATION. 

The Cotton Brokers' Association represents all matters 
affecting the purchase and sale of the great staple of the 
port, an article which involves transactions of the amount 
of £30,000,000 a year, conducted with a promptitude, 
clearness, and integrity never surpassed in the annals of 
commerce. Though all the arrangements are made verbally 
and rest on honour alone, disputes are almost unknown, 
and repudiation entirely so. The officers of the association 
for the present year are : 

Mr Studley Martin, Secretary | Mr Rogers Waterhouse, Treasurer 
GENERAL BROKERS' ASSOCIATION. 

The transactions of the general brokers extend to 
nearly all the articles imported, and affect values to the 
extent of £10,000,000 to £15,000,000 a year. They also 



127 



are conducted with extraordinary promptitude and regu- 
larity. The officers of this association are : 

Henry Royds, Esq, Chairman 
Mr John R Pattinson, Treasurer | Mr T M Myers, Secretary 

CORN TRADE ASSOCIATION. 

The corn trade has a separate organisation, and forms 
na large and rapidly increasing hranch of the commerce of 
the port. Being concerned in the purchase and sale of 
the first of all the necessaries of life, there is no assignable 
limit to its increase. 

Mr George Thompson, Treasurer 

AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 

The African trade, especially in the great article of 

palm oil, has grown rapidly of late years, as will be seen 

from the particulars given in an earlier part of this work ; 

and will gain additional importance from the introduction 

of steam navigation on the African coast. 

Thomas Berry Horsfall, Esq, M.P., Chairman 

Mr T M Myers, Secretary Office, 1, Exchange Buildings 

Mr Edward Hatton, Treasurer 

WEST INDIA ASSOCIATION. 

The West India Association is one of the oldest com- 
mercial associations of the port. It represents a trade 
which has passed through great difficulties, from the dear- 
ness and deficiency of labour in the British West Indies, 
and the competition of slavery and the slave trade, but 
which is still of great national importance, and capable of 
great extension, under a fairer and freer system of labour. 

Mr Peter Wright, Secretary Office, 6, Brunswick Street 



128 



BRAZILIAN ASSOCIATION. 

The Brazilian Association is not fully organized, but 
it is connected with a large and increasing trade. 
Mr John North, Secretary and Treasurer 

UNDERWRITERS' ASSOCIATION. 

The Marine Insurance of the port, like its commerce 
and shipping, is very large, and forms an important branch 
■of business. Its public place of business is in the Under- 
writers' Eoom. 

Mr Thomas Court, Secretary Office, 21, Exchange Buildings 

There are also associations for the protection of ware- 
house property, which amounts to fully £3,000,000 in 
value ; and for other purposes connected with trade. 

THE LIVEEPOOL CUSTOM-HOUSE 

Upwards of £3,600,000 per annum of the national 
revenue is collected at the Liverpool Custom-house. This, 
though a considerable sum, is only one-third of the amount 
collected in London. The difference arises from the fact 
of the mass of the goods imported into Liverpool being 
Taw materials and prime necessaries of life, which are free 
from duty; whilst the mass of the goods imported into 
London are articles of secondary necessity, comforts, and 
luxuries, which are all very heavily taxed. The affairs of 
the Liverpool Custom-house are conducted with great 
promptitude and courtesy, and with a sincere desire at once 



129 



to do justice to the national revenue and to the commerce 

of the country, under the superintendence of the following 

gentlemen : 

S Price Edwards, Esq, Collector 
William G Stewart, Esq, Controller 
John Cockshott, Esq, Inspector-General 
Isaac G Thom, Esq, Controller of Warehouse Accounts 



EDUCATION IN LIVEEPOOL. 

There are various public, as well as private institutions 
in Liverpool, for the promotion of knowledge and education. 
Amongst them are the following : 

THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION. 

This institution is not a school, but a group of three 
distinct schools, adapted for three different ranks of life. 
The arrangements of the building are such, that the schools, 
though under one superintendence, are kept entirely separate 
from one another. There are also three play-grounds and 
three dining-rooms. 

The lower school supplies an English education, with 
the elements of French and mathematics. In the middle 
school Latin and French, and elementary mathematics are 
fully taught. The upper school prepares young men for 
the universities, and has also a " Modern Division," in which 
German takes the place of Greek, and provision is made 
for the teaching of natural history and natural philosophy. 

The institution is self-supporting, and its finances are 
in a flourishing condition. The fees in the upper, middle, 
•and lower schools are twenty-two guineas, eleven guineas, 



130 

and four and a-half guineas respectively. There are no en- 
dowments, except in the form of exhibitions and scholarships, 
open to competition. The latter give free education in the 
schools ; the former, of which one is annually vacant, of 
the value of £40 or £50, are tenable for three or four years 
at the university. 

The institution is recognised as a Government School of 
Art, and thus, besides the advantages hereby derived to its 
three schools, it is enabled to supply instruction in drawing 
to a large number of parochial schools in Liverpool. There 
are evening classes, not only for art, but for mathematics, 
arithmetic, English, classics, and French. Public lectures 
are occasionally given in the institution. 

The numbers in the three day schools (excluding the 
evening classes) are at present about 750, viz., about 150 
in the upper school, 250 in the middle, and 350 in the 
lower. All the masters are allowed to take boarders. 

All arrangements which affect teaching and discipline 
are placed absolutely in the hands of the principal, who has 
the power of appointing and removing all the masters. The 
principal is appointed (and removed, if necessary) by the 
directors, who manage the general financial concerns of the 
institution, and who also appointthe secretary. The directors 
are chosen by the life governors, who consisted in the first 
place of the hundred gentlemen who first contributed £100, 
and who annually fill up all vacancies in their body. The 
Bishop of Chester is visitor. 

The basis, as regards religion, on which the institution 
rests, is as follows : — That religious teaching and training, 
according to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of 
England, are combined with the ordinary school work, — 



131 

that all officers of the institution, (except the teachers of 
foreign languages,) must be members of the Church of 
England, — that prayer and the reading of Scripture form 
part of the daily occupation of the schools, — but that the 
children of Nonconformists may be exempted, at the request 
of their parents and guardians, from learning the Church 
catechism. 

The practical working of this system is the subject of 
some remarks in a paper contributed by the present Prin- 
cipal, to the Transactions for 1858 of the Association for 
the Promotion of Social Science. 

The building, designed by W. Elmes, the architect of 
St. George's Hall, was raised entirely by private subscrip- 
tions, at a cost of about £35,000, most of which was paid 
at the time of its erection, the rest more recently. The 
schools were first opened at the beginning of 1843. 

The first principal was the Kev. W. J. Conybeare. The 
present principal is the Kev. J. S. Howson. These two 
gentlemen, the joint authors of " The Life and Epistles of 
St. Paul," took double first class honours in the same year 
at Cambridge. 



THE LIVERPOOL INSTITUTE. 

This establishment for the promotion of science and 
learning, was opened in the year 1825. It includes, or is 
connected with, several seminaries of education. 

The first of these is the High School, in which the pu- 
pils are prepared for the learned professions, for civil service 
appointments, for commerce, and for university studies. 



132 

The Commercial School, also connected with it, i&- 
designed to communicate a sound English education, on 
very moderate terms. 

The Girls' School, is designed to afford a liberal educa- 
tion to young ladies. 

The Evening School is intended to afford to those who 
are occupied in the day, the advantages of intruction in 
their leisure hours. 

The Drawing Schools of the Liverpool Institute form 
one of the Government Schools of Art. 

The following gentlemen are the officers of the Liver- 
pool Institute : 

James Mulleneux, Esq, President Christopher H Jones, Treasurer 

Mr Astrup Cariss, Secretary 

The Liverpool School of Art attached to the Liverpool 
Institute, affords instruction in drawing, painting, and 
modelling. Classes for ladies, meet at mid-day, and for 
gentlemen and artizans, in the evening. 

queen's college. 

This institution, in connection with the University of 
London, was opened in the year 1857. Its principal object 
is to afford facilities for obtaining the degrees of the Uni- 
versity of London ; but its course of study is so liberal and 
comprehensive, as to be adapted to all the branches of pro- 
fessional life, and to examinations for the civil service. 
The following gentlemen are the officers and professors of 
Queen's College: 

President of the Senate, Wm. Brown, Esq., M.P. 

Vice-Presidents, G Holt, Esq, and J Dickenson, Esq, M.D.,F.E.S., &c. 

Secretary, Mr Astrup Cariss 



133 

The Liverpool Ladies' College was established with a 
view of enabling young ladies to follow systematically, 
under able professors, any branches of knowledge usually 
pursued in school education. 



ACCOMMODATION FOR RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 

According to a statement laid before the Society for 
Social Science, at its meeting in Liverpool, by Dr. Hume, 
there is accommodation in the churches of Liverpool for 
55,216 persons, at one and the same time, and the number 
of persons who use that accommodation, more or less fre- 
quently, is 98,350. According to the same authority, the 
accommodation for Protestant Dissenters at one and the 
same time is sufficient for 30,377, but about 55,415 persons 
avail themselves of that accommodation more or less fre- 
quently. The number of Roman Catholics in Liverpool is 
stated by Dr. Hume to be 98,820, and they are in general 
well supplied with religious accommodation, their mode 
of religious worship rendering the same chapels available 
for several successive congregations, in the same day. 
Five-sixths of the church accommodation of Liverpool has 
been furnished by the Town Council, or the spontaneous 
zeal of individual churchmen ; and the whole of that used 
by Protestant Dissenters and Roman Catholics has been 
furnished by the members of those communities. The 
amount of accommodation is still far from being equal to 
the wants of the population, but few years pass in which 
additional places of worship are not erected. 
* M 



134 



SAILORS HOME, REGISTRY, AND SAVINGS BANK. 

This most valuable institution, the foundation stone of 
which was laid by H.E.H. the Prince Consort, and 
which is under the immediate patronage of Her Majesty 
the Queen, was established in the year 1844, for the 
purpose of affording to the numerous seamen who frequent 
the port of Liverpool, and who, like all sailors on shore, 
are especially liable to imposition, comfortable board, 
respectable lodging, and, in case of need, medical attend- 
ance, all at a reasonable cost. A savings' bank, a reading 
room, a library, and nautical schools, are established in 
connexion with the Sailors' Home. A registry of the 
characters and services of seamen is kept at this institu- 
tion, the effect of which is to secure the steady and clever 
seamen prompt employment by the most respectable ship- 
owners of the port, and wages proportioned to their merits. 
James Tyrer, Esq., is treasurer of the Sailors' Home ; 
Mr. Richard Tinley, superintendent; and Mr. Thomas 
Hanmer, secretary. 

LOCAL MARINE BOARD. 

This institution, established by act of parliament, for 
the purpose of insuring a competent knowledge of navi- 
gation and seamanship, in all persons aspiring to the 
responsible position of officers in the mercantile marine, 
holds its meetings, and has its board-room and offices, at 
the Sailors' Home. The examiners of the Local Marine 
Board are Mr. J. T. Towson, in navigation ; Mr. Norman 
McLeod, in seamanship ; and Mr. E. Ross, in steam. The 



135 

mayor of Liverpool and the stipendiary magistrate, John 
Smith Mansfield, Esq., are members of the board, ex officio, 
which is further composed of five members, elected by the 
shipowners, and four members nominated by the Board of 
Trade. The following gentlemen are the present members : 

The Mayor of Liverpool, ex officio 
John Smith Mansfield, Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate, ex officio 



Samuel R. Graves, Esq 
Wm. J. Tomlinson, Esq 
T. M. Blythe, Esq 
John Lockett, Esq 
Wm. Inman, Esq 



George Kendall, Esq 
Joseph Mondell, Esq 
Charles Maclver, Esq 
James Smith, Esq 



TENEMENTS AND VOTERS IN LIVERPOOL. 

A return of the present session of parliament gives the 
following facts with regard to the tenants and voters at 
Liverpool : — The population of the borough of Liverpool, 
at the time of the last census, in 1851, was 375,955. The 
number of members returned is two. The number of 
voters on the register at the present time is 18,855 ; but a 
note appended to the return states that the actual number 
of persons entitled to vote is about 16,555. The whole 
number of tenements, including houses, shops, ware- 
houses, &c, rated to the poor in the borough of Liverpool, 
is 74,099. Of these the number rated at £10 and upwards 
is 42,478 ; the number rated from £5 to £10 is 29,836; 
the number from £4, to £5 is 1,323 ; the number from £3 
to £4, is 368 ; and the number under £3 is 94. 

GROWTH OF BIRKENHEAD. 

At the commencement of the present century, when the 
first census was taken, in the year 1801, Birkenhead was a 



136 



small hamlet, containing 110 inhabitants; and Woodside 
was a ferry house, on the river Mersey. A pleasant wood 
of oak trees stretched along the side of the river, from 
Woodside and Birkenhead, and probably gave the former 
place its name, as the latter was named from the wood of 
birch trees, which once covered the promontory on which it 
stands. There are many persons still alive who remember 
the time when there were not half-a-dozen houses between 
Holt Hill, which now overlooks the town of Birkenhead, 
and the river Mersey. Between the first census, in 1801, 
and the second census, in 1811, the population of Birken- 
head decreased from 110 to 105 inhabitants; and from 
1811 to the third census, in 1821, it only increased from 
105 to 200. Up to that time there had been no means of 
communication across the river, except sailing boats, and 
the landiug was so bad, on both sides of the river, that 
men, women, and children, had often to be carried from 
the boats to the shore, through the mud and over the 
stones, in the arms of the boatmen. On the 4th of April, 
1817, the Etna, the first ferry steamer, began to ply on the 
Mersey, and from that day the population of Liverpool 
began to spread itself over the opposite shore of the river. 
It was not, however, till the year 1819 that the foundation 
of the first church, built at Birkenhead in modern times, 
was laid in the grounds of the ancient Priory. From that 
time the population began to increase rapidly, hundreds of 
families passing over from Liverpool, allured by pleasant 
country scenery, fine river views, and the wonderful ease 
with which they were able to pass from the bustle of the 
town to the quietness of the country. This quietness soon, 
however, began to pass away with the influx of population, 



137 



for in the year 1841 the number of houses had increased 
to 1,256, and the number of inhabitants to 8,227. In 1843 
the first Birkenhead Dock Act was passed, and was followed 
by a rapid increase of the population, which has continued to 
the present day. At the date of the last census, in 1851, 
the population of Birkenhead had increased to 24,000 
inhabitants, and it is now estimated by the officers of the 
township at 35,000. In all the Reform Bills, recently 
promulgated, it is proposed that Birkenhead should return 
a member to Parliament. 

THE COMMISSIONERS OF BIRKENHEAD. 

Birkenhead is governed by a board of Commissioners, 

The members hold office for three years ; and are elected by 

the ratepayers of the township. The following are the 

Commissioners of Birkenhead at the present time : 

J. Laird, Esq, Chairman ; G. Rae, Esq, Deputy-Chairman 
Mr. Stainton Bailiff 
Mr. Henry Bell 
Mr. Thomas Bradley 



Mr. E. Gardner Willoughby 
Mr. Charles Cook 
Mr. T. B. Golborne 
Mr. W. T. Keightley 
Mr. Charles Olives Baylis 
Mr. John Laird 
Mr. H. K. Aspinall 
Mr. George Kae 

Office, Hamilton-square 



Mr. John Alexander Barnett 

Mr. George Meakin 

Mr. Charles Verelst 

Mr. James Macdonald 

Mr. William Hind 

Mr. George Harrison 

Mr. James M'Whirter 

Mr. Thomas Stanton Eddowes 

Mr. Robert J. Hardman 

Mr. William M'Gill 



THE COMMISSIONERS OF WALLASEY. 

The rapid increase of population in the Townships of 
Wallasey and Seacombe, has rendered it necessary to form 
another local government on the Cheshire side of the 
Mersey, for the administration of the affairs of the rapidly 
improving and increasing district, extending from the 
north side of Wallasey Pool to the sea at New Brighton. 
*m2 



138 

Thirty years ago, Seacombe, Wallasey, Liseard, and the 
Magazines, were small villages, of one to two hundred 
inhabitants ; and Egremont and New Brighton did not 
then exist, even in name. At the present time the popu- 
lation amounts to several thousands, and is rapidly 
increasing. 

The following are the officers of the Wallasey Board : 

Mr T. Keay Hassall, Law Clerk Mr George Arkle, Treasurer 

Mr James T. Lea, Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances 

Mr T. Somerville Jones, Accountant 

The overflowing of the population of Liverpool along the 
sea shore to the north of the town, joined to the aboriginal 
residents, has brought together a population of several 
thousand inhabitants, which has also organised for itself 
a local government, under the Waterloo and Seaforth 
Board of Health. 

The forming of a large dock for sea going ships at 
Garston, and the establishing of a line of railway to that 
point, with other causes, have also brought together a 
considerable and rapidly increasing population in that part 
of the port, under a Local Board of Health. 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE TRADE OF 1859. 

It appears from the returns of the Custom-house that 
the declared value of the goods exported from Liverpool in 
the month of January, 1859, was £5,261,789. This is an 
increase of £1,802,672, on comparison with the exports of 
January, 1858, which amounted to £3,438,107. If the 
value of the exports, in the first month of 1859, is to be 
taken as a standard to measure the exports of the succeeding 
months of the year, the value of the exports of 1859 



189 

-will greatly surpass those of any preceding year. The 
greatest value of the exports of Liverpool, in any previous 
year, was £55,173,756 in 1857; hut the exports of January, 
1859, are at the rate of upwards of £63,000,000 a year. 

The goods exported from Liverpool in January, 1859 
were sent to the following countries and regions, according 
to the Custom-house classification : 

Asia (India and China,) and Africa £1,367,948 

Australia and New Zealand 217,366 

North of Europe (Baltic) 1,147 

South of Europe 1,027,84* 

British America and West Indies 173,166 

United States 1,770,017 

South America 704,305 

£5,261,789 

Two of the items in the above list are very much below 
the average, namely, those which relate to British America, 
and the Baltic. Those two branches of trade are almost 
closed in the winter months, by the intense cold which 
freezes not merely the rivers and canals, but even the 
ports and harbours. It is not until the spring and summer 
months that the extent of those trades is perceived. The 
other branches of trade form probably a fair average of 
the trade of the year : but there is no reason to think that 
they do anything more. It will be seen that the trade with 
the United States still takes the lead of all others, but that 
that of India and China approaches near to it, whilst the 
trades with the South of Europe (chiefly the Mediterranean) 
-and South America, are also very large. 

The following table of the declared value of exportation 



140 



from the whole of the United Kingdom, will show how 
large a proportion of the whole passes through the port of 
Liverpool : 

DECLARED VALUE OF EXPORTATION S. 



Apparel and Slops 

Beer and Ale 

Books 

Butter 

Candles 

Cheese 

Coals and Culm 

Cordage 

Cottons 

Cotton Yarns 

Earthenware 

Fish 

Furniture 

Glass 

Haberdashery 

Hardwares 

Leather 

Linens 

Linen Yarn 

Machinery 

Iron and Steel 

Copper and Brass 

Lead 

Tin 

Oil Seed 

Painters' Colours 

Pickles and Sauces ... 
Plate and Jewellery . . . 

Salt 

Silks 

Soap 

Soda 

Spirits 

Stationery 

Sugar, Penned 

Wool 

Woollens 

Woollen Yarn 

Unenumerated Articles 



Month Ending Jan. 31. 



1858. 



£149,153 

161,103 

29,488 

42,724 

9,538 

4,566 

153,722 

9,582 

2,150,779 

636,342 

76,084 

10,094 

18,917 

46,157 

215,740 

227,950 

147,091 

333,239 

88,441 

239,822 

590,810 

169,236 

27,657 

69,779 

50,033 

15,942 

18,483 

24,821 

10,833 

111,042 

12,603 

39,177 

19,644 

52,747 

14,904 

41,098 

584,610 

119,631 

498,018 



£7,221,600 £9,593,423 



1859. 



£159,755 

170,294 

29,341 

56,538 

10,589 

6,655 

156,426 

9,275 

3,159,919 

698,804 

90,708 

21,099 

13,582 

41,809 

295,060 

268,790 

130,031 

394,114 

138,213 

185,453 

704,685 

260,392 

44,120 

112,720 

61,918 

26,024 

23,689 

37,239 

11,329 

204,209 

8,629 

70,045 

18,665 

48,513 

31,129 

21,860 

894,472 

180,736 

796,594 



Increase. 



£10,602 
9,191 

13,814 
1,051 
2,089 
2,704 

1,009,140 
62,462 
14,624 
11,005 



79,320 
40,840 

60,875 
49,772 

113,875 
91,156 
16,463 
42,941 
11,885 
10,082 
5,206 
12,418 
496 
93,167 

30,868 



16,225 

309,862 

61,105 

298,576 



Decrease 



£ — 

147 

307 



5,335 

4,348 



17,060 



54,369 



3,974 

979 
4,234 

19,238 



" Everywhere else, all the power and wealth of 
autocracy must avow themselves vanquished and 
eclipsed hy that incomparable fecundity of private 
industry, which, in our time, without having been 
either incited or aided by the State, has hollowed out 
in the port of Liverpool, floating docks six times as 
vast as those of Cherbourg." — Montalembert on Con. 
stitutional Liberty. 



PART II. 



THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL, AND THE 
HARBOUR OF THE MERSEY. 



There are few natural harbours on the west coast of Great 
Britain sufficiently protected from the stormy winds of the 
Atlantic, and the rapid currents of the Irish Sea, and at 
the same time possessed of sufficient depth of water, to 
receive and shelter the larger class of vessels now employed 
in the commerce of England. No harbour unless deep 
enough for vessels of fifteen hundred, two thousand, and 
three thousand tons, and even greater size and draft of 
water, is available for the largest class of vessels which 
now sails under the English and American flags. Harbours 
of this kind are rare in all parts of the world, and along 
the western coast of Great Britain, from Milford Haven, in 
South Wales, to the entrance of the Clyde, a distance of 
three hundred miles, the estuary of the Mersey is almost 
the only natural harbour possessed of all these requisites. 
The rugged coast of Wales, from Milford Haven to the 
entrance of the river Dee, is lined with lofty mountains, 
and is indented with deep wide bays, of which those of 
Cardigan and Carmarthen are best known to, and most 
dreaded by, seamen. These are open to every wind that 
blows from the ocean, and the indraft of powerful currents 
joins with the winds, in driving vessels, that have the 
misfortune to be drawn within them, on the fatal rocks 
which line their shores. So great is the want along these 
coasts, and indeed in every part of the western seas of Great 



Britain, of natural harbours, that parliament has expended, 
or has agreed to expend, a sum of nearly two millions of 
the public money, in forming a harbour at Holyhead;* and 
plans are now under consideration, for forming harbours of 
refuge, at the expense of the nation, at several other points 
in the western seas, f Neither are the level shores which 
stretch from the mouth of the river Dee to the head of 
Morecombe Bay, much better provided with natural har- 
bours than the rugged coasts of Wales ; for, although they 
present to the seaman several wide estuaries, each large 
enough to receive a numerous fleet of the largest vessels, 
they are some of them so open to the prevailing winds, 
others so inaccessible from sand- banks, and all of them, 
with the exception of the river Mersey, possessed of so 
small a depth of water, as to be unfit to receive and shelter 
the immense vessels, which have come into use, for the 
purposes of commerce, during the last twenty years. The 
estuary of the Mersey, however, combines in itself the 
advantages of a natural harbour, moderately well sheltered 
from the most dangerous winds, with an entrance deep and 
wide enough to admit the largest vessels, and an area of 
several thousand acres of water space, everywhere present- 
ing a sufficient depth of water, for them to ride at anchor in 
safety, in every state of the tide. 

The port of Liverpool extends over the whole estuary 
of the Mersey, from its entrance at the Bock on which the 
Lighthouse stands, to the highest point reached by the 
tides, and it also stretches along the coasts of Lancashire 
and Cheshire, to the entrance of the Bibble and the Dee, 

* Financial Accounts for the Year 1858. 
f Report on Harbours of Refuge, 1S57. 



where the ports of Preston and Chester commence. Out- 
side the estuary, along a coast thirty miles in extent, the 
port is exposed to the violence of all the winds, and is 
destitute of secure anchorage. The ancient creek of Hoy- 
lake, in which large ships formerly lay secure, under the 
shelter of the Hoyle Banks, has been rendered useless 
for that purpose, by the encroachment of the sands; and the 
other parts of the shore present nothing but sandy downs, 
without a single opening accessible to large vessels. Within 
the estuary of the Mersey vessels are moderately well pro- 
tected from the west, the south-west, and the south-east 
winds, by ranges of hills, rising to the height of from two 
to three hundred feet. These hills stretch along both sides 
of the Mersey, extending from the Bock at New Brighton 
to above Eastham, on the Cheshire side of the river, and 
from Everton to Woolton and Garston, on the other. A 
much higher range of hills rises on the upper shores of the 
estuary, extending from Helsby Hill to Buncom, and this 
also in some degree breaks the force of the winds, from the 
south and east. The port, however, lies very open to the 
north and the north-east winds ; but fortunately those are 
neither the prevailing winds, nor those which blow with 
the greatest force, on the shores of Lancashire. This is 
seen from the results of a series of observations, on the 
force and direction of the winds, made at the Liverpool 
Observatory, during the six years ending the 31st December, 
1857. The direction and force of the wind, as deduced 
from hourly averages of observations, taken during the whole 
of that period, with Osier's self-registering anemometer, 
were as follows : — The wind blew from the north-east 
quarter sixty days in the year, with an average force of 



nearly eight miles an hour (7.8) ; from the south-east one 
hundred and sixteen days, with a force of eleven miles an 
hour ; from the south-west seventy- seven days, with a force 
of nearly fourteen miles an hour (13.8) ; and from the 
north-west one hundred and twelve days, with a force of 
upwards of fifteen miles an hour. These are the averages 
of the whole six years, but in the year 1854 the wind blew 
from the north-west during one hundred and thirty-eight 
days, with an average velocity of more than seventeen miles 
an hour, and from the south-west eighty-nine days, with an 
average velocity of nearly fifteen miles an hour. The above 
figures show the ordinary force and velocity of the winds 
on the banks of the Mersey ; but in gales from the north- 
west and the south-west the wind sometimes blows at the 
rate of forty miles per hour, and in the great storm, on the 
25th and 27th December, 1852, it swept over the port at 
the rate of seventy- one miles. 

The following table shows the average of each of the 
six years, as well as of the whole, as arranged by Mr. 
Hartnup, at the Liverpool Observatory : — 

Direction and Strength of the Wind, at the Liverpool Observatory, for 
the Six Years ending the 1st December, 1857. 

Summary of the Direction and Hourly Velocity of the Wind. 
For the Quadrants. 



Year 


N.-Eastwardly 


N.-Westwardly 


S.-Eastwardly 


S.-Westwardly 


Calms 


Days 


Miles 
^ hour 


Days 


Miles 
^hour 


Days 


Miles 
^hour 


Days 


Miles 
^hour 


Days 

0-8 
1-1 
02 
0-5 
0-5 
02 


1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 


55-0 
70-1 
43-9 
75-0 
59'3 
56-9 


8-0 
7-6 
7-9 
7-5 
8-1 
7-7 


92'8 
108-6 
138-0 
120-2 
118-9 

92-9 


16-2 
14-8 
17-9 
14-7 
14'5 
135 


129-8 
110*0 
93-9 
109-4 
119-8 
1309 


11-5 
11-1 
10-8 
11-0 
10-9 
10'9 


87-6 
75-2 
89-0 
59-9 
67-5 
84-1 


15-4 
14-0 
149 
130 
131 
125 


Means. 


60-0 


7-8 


111-9 


15*4 


115-6 


11-0 


77-2 


13-8 


06 



For the Semi-Circles. 



i 

i 

1 


Year 


NORTH AND SOUTH. 


EAST AND WEST. 


Northwardly 


Southwardly 


Calm 


Eastwardly 


Westwardly 


Calm 


Days 


Miles 
#■ hour 


Days 


Miles 
^hour 


Days 


Days 


Miles 
$"hour 


Days 


Miles 
$■ hour 


Days 


1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 


147*8 
178-7 
181-9 
195-2 
178-2 
1498 


130 
12-0 
15-5 
11-1 
124 
11-3 


217-4 
1852 
182-9 
169-3 
1873 
215-0 


131 
123 

12-8 
11-7 
11-7 
11-6 


0-8 
1-1 
0-2 
0-5 
05 
0-2 


184-8 
180'1 
137-8 
184-4 
179-1 
187-8 


10-4 
9-7 
9-9 
9-6 

100 

io-o 


180-4 
183-8 
227-0 
180-1 
186-4 
177-0 


15-8 
14-5 
167 
14-1 
14-0 
13-1 


0-8 
11 
0-2 
05 
0-5 
02 


Means 


171-9 


126 


192-9 


12-2 


0-6 


175-7 


9-9 

• 


189-1 


14-7 


0-6 



The immense sand banks which stretch along the coasts 
of Cheshire and Lancashire, render those coasts inaccessible 
to large vessels, except through a few narrow channels. 
Along the greater part of the coast, the sand banks are 
seen at low water, rising above the level of the sea, in some 
places to the height of from twenty to thirty feet, presenting 
the aspect of a waste of sand, deserted by all living 
creatures, except flocks of sea birds, which pick up a 
subsistence on the sand, or find it by fishing in the neigh- 
bouring shallows. At low water the only approach to the 
shore is through channels, which then become nearly dry ; 
but no sooner does the tide begin to rise, than these 
channels are changed to great arms of the sea, into which 
the water rises rapidly, and soon spreads over and covers the 
banks. Then it is that they become dangerous to navi- 
gators, presenting everywhere either foaming breakers or 
treacherous shallows, in which vessels, unless well directed 
and piloted, are drawn and lost. These banks have all 
been raised from the bottom of the sea, by the action of the 
tides and currents, and the general effect of the action of 
a 2 



6 



the sea is to raise them higher. It is only at a few points 
that the force of the tides, as they rush from or to the sea, 
through the deeper and wider estuaries, is of sufficient 
strength, to preserve channels deep and wide enough for 
the purposes of navigation, from the sea into the bays and 
estuaries of the adjoining coast. 

The mischief caused by these vast sand banks is not 
confined to the forming of dangerous bars and narrow 
passages, at the entrance of the neighbouring harbours. 
The sand of which they are composed is so loose, that 
much of it is stirred up and set in motion, as the tides rise. 
Hence the tidal wave flows into the estuaries, bearing 
along with it large quantities of sand. This it carries into 
their inmost recesses, and when the impulse which urges 
the tide forward loses its force, a large portion of it sinks 
to the bottom. The effect of this constant deposit of sand, 
continued through a long course of ages, has been to 
render several of the estuaries on this coast too shallow to 
receive large vessels, even at flood tide, and to convert them 
into vast wastes of sand at the ebb. Even in those in 
which the tendency of the sand to accumulate is partially 
checked by other natural causes, the effect has been to form 
extensive sand banks, in the higher parts of the estuaries. 

The quantity of sand set in motion by the advancing 
tides, at the entrance of the river Mersey is fully as great 
as at any other point on the coast. It amounts, according 
to a calculation laid before the British Association in 1837, 
by Captain Denham, then marine surveyor of the port, to 
twenty-nine cubic inches of solid matter, to every cubic 
yard of tidal water carried into the estuary.* Fortunately 
* Report of Transactions of the British Association, 1837, p. 85. 



the formation of the entrance to the Mersey is such as to 
cause the tide to rush into the river, and to sweep through 
the harbour, with a force which carries the sand, borne along 
by it, into the higher part of the estuary, and prevents any 
very serious amount of deposit, in the lower and narrower 
part, forming the harbour of Liverpool. The vertical rise 
of the tide, at the entrance of the Mersey, is from thirty to 
thirty-three and a half feet at the highest spring tides, and 
it passes through the narrowest part of the river, between 
Seacombe and Prince's Dock, at a speed varying from 
4j to 5^- miles per hour, according to the nature of the 
tide. There is scarcely any deposit of sand in the narrowest 
part of the river, but at a little distance above that point, 
where the stream begins to widen, the great deposit of sand, 
well known as Pluckington Bank, commences. It is 
ascertained that the increased force of the tide, caused by 
the narrowing and straightening of the channel, is producing 
a considerable effect on this bank; and likewise that the 
strength of the tide is so great, in the middle of the stream, 
as to prevent any deposit taking place there. Hence the deep 
water continues above New Ferry and the Dingle, and it is 
in the upper part of the harbour, between Tranmere and 
Rock Ferry, that the best anchorage exists, which has 
been long known by the name of the Sloyne. Above 
Garston the Mersey is rilled with sand banks, which are 
seen at low water, rising to a height of from 10 to 15, 
and even 20 feet. These, however, are covered by the tide 
at high water, and the tidal wave ascends nearly twenty 
miles further up the estuary, running into the river Weaver, 
beyond Frodsham, and up the river Mersey, for some ^iles 
above Warrington. 



8 



According to the calculations of Captain Denham, the 
quantity of tidal water which enters the Mersey, at spring 
tides, is seven hundred and seventy-four millions of cubic 
yards, and at neap two hundred and ninety-nine millions, 
making an average of five hundred and thirty-five millions 
of cubic yards. When the tide is full, this immense mass 
of water forms a great natural reservoir, with the appearance 
of a noble lake, twenty miles in length, and from two to five 
miles in breadth. On the turn of the tide this vast mass 
of water, in flowing back to the sea, carries along with it 
the fresh water brought down from the interior. At first 
its motion is slow, but as it descends towards the sea the 
motion increases steadily, and before it reaches the narrow 
part of the estuary it has attained a speed of three to four 
miles an hour. As it flows through the narrowest part of 
the estuary, within the harbour of Liverpool, its speed con- 
tinues to increase until it attains a rate of between five and 
six miles an hour. The power of this great natural sluice 
not only scours out the harbour, but strikes upon the banks, 
at the entrance of the river, with sufficient force to clear a 
wide channel into the sea, in which channel there is never less 
than twelve feet at low water, and at high water sufficient 
depth of water to admit the largest ships that traverse the 
ocean. Such is the great natural process by which the 
harbour of the Mersey, and the channels leading into it, 
have hitherto been kept open, and by which they may be 
kept open for ages to come, if nothing be done in the 
interior of the river, to diminish the quantity of water 
which the rising and falling tides force through them more 
than fourteen hundred times every year. 



THE CONSERVANCY OF THE MERSEY. 

The object of the Mersey Conservancy Act of 1842 
was to create a permanent board of conservators, armed 
with sufficient powers to prevent encroachments on the 
shores of the Mersey, to remove all obstructions in the 
stream, produced by natural or accidental causes, and to 
insure, that all public works, formed below the level of 
high water, should be planned and executed in such a 
manner as to render them useful, if possible, and at all 
events, not detrimental, to the paramount object of pre- 
serving the entrances to the port and the port itself.* 

The Mersey Conservancy Board, as constituted by the 
Act of 1842, consists of three commissioners of conser- 
vancy. These are the First Lord of the Admiralty, the 
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Chief 
Commissioner of her Majesty's Woods and Forests, for the 
time being. The act provides that the conservancy of the 
river Mersey, and of its banks and shores, from Warrington 
and Frodsham bridges to the sea, and of the entrances to 
the river, in the sea, " as the same conservancy is vested in 
her Majesty, the Queen, in right of her Crown and of her 
Duchy of Lancaster, or in the Lord High Admiral, or Com- 
missioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, 
of the United Kingdom," shall be vested in the three 
commissioners named above, who shall be entitled 
" Commissioners for the Conservancy of the Kiver Mersey." 

These commissioners are authorised, by the Act, to 

appoint an acting conservator, whose duty is stated in the 

Act to be, to survey and inspect the river Mersey, within 

* An Act for better preserving the Navigation of the River Mersey, 
30th July, 1842. 



10 



the limits mentioned above, and to report to the commis- 
sioners, upon the state of the navigation, specifying all the 
impediments, nuisances, and encroachments that exist, and 
how and by whom they have been created. The Act 
further provides that, after the 1st of July, 1842, no quay, 
wharf, jetty, breast-work, or embankment, shall be erected, 
in the bed, or on the shores of the Mersey, below high 
water mark, of a tide rising to the height of 21 feet above 
the Old Dock Sill, (which is nearly 30 feet above low 
water,) without two months' notice to the acting conser- 
vator, and also provides that any work constructed with- 
out such notice, shall be a nuisance, and may be abated 
and removed as such. The act further empowers the 
commissioners of conservancy to commence or defend any 
action at law, or in equity, which they may consider 
necessary, for the carrying out the purposes of the act, and 
provides that they shall be indemnified by the mayor, 
alderman, and burgesses of Liverpool, and by the trustees 
of the dock estate, "from all costs, charges, or damages 
which they may incur, with regard to the surveying and 
inspection of the river." 

No change was made by the Mersey Docks and Harbour 
Acts of 1857 and 1858, either in the constitution of the 
Mersey Conservancy Board, as established by the act of 
1842, or in the powers conferred on the Conservancy Com- 
missioners, by that act. The only change made by those 
acts, in relation to that act, was as to the source from which 
the funds for carrying out its objects should in future be 
supplied. The corporation of Liverpool, who were the 
promoters of the act of 1842, previously supplied the funds 
for that purpose, in the proportion of two-thirds from their 



11 



borough fund, and one-third from the funds of the dock 
estate, of which they were trustees. By the Mersey Docks 
and Harbour Act of 1857, the funds are in future to be 
supplied from the estate of the Mersey Docks and Harbour 
Board. It is only just to mention that the corporation of 
Liverpool not only paid the cost of obtaining the Mersey 
Conservancy Act, but that they have also expended up- 
wards of £ 5 0,0 00, in promoting the objects for which 
that Act was passed. 

The Mersey Conservancy Act has now been in force for 
upwards of sixteen years, during the greater portion of 
which time Bear- Admiral George Evans has held the office 
of acting conservator ; and it is very satisfactory to be able 
to state, at the end of that period, that the condition of the 
port is considerably better than it was when the act passed. 
Since that time no encroachments on the bed or shores of 
the river, by private individuals, have been allowed ; all 
obstructions in the channels, produced by wrecks or other 
causes, have been promptly removed ; and the utmost care 
has been taken, in planning the immense public works which 
have been constructed on both sides of the Mersey, that 
they should be formed, in such a manner as not merely to 
preserve, but to increase as much as possible, the action of 
the tide on the harbour and on the passages leading to it. 
This is clearly shown as relates to the river, by a compari- 
son of the results of a careful survey of the river Mersey, 
made in the year 1857, with those of similar survey made in 
the year 1822 ; and as relates to the entrances to the river, it 
is shown by a comparison of the chart of the approaches to 
the river, published by Lieut. Murray T. Parks, marine 
surveyor to the port, in the year 1858, with older charts. 



12 



COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE PORT AND HARBOUR OF 
LIVERPOOL, IN THE YEARS 1822 AND 1857. 

The report of Mr. James Walker, and Mr. John 
B. Hartley, on the condition of the river Mersey, is 
important, both as showing the present state of the 
navigation of the port and harbour, and also as showing 
the changes which have taken place in both, during the last 
thirty-seven years, that is, since the survey which was made 
for the corporation, by the late Mr. Giles, in the year 1822. 
The report of Mr. Walker and Mr. J. B. Hartley, is dated 
21st of December, 1857. 

On comparing the facts which were ascertained, and the 
measurements which were made in the year 1857, with 
those which were ascertained and made in 1822, it is found, 
that the following changes have taken place, during the 
interval which elapsed between the two surveys. 

It appears, in the first place, that the course of the 
great tidal wave, which flows through the port and har- 
bour, at flood and ebb, has become much straighter and 
more direct than it was in the year 1822. At that time a 
much larger portion of the water, which the tide forces into 
the Mersey, found its way to the entrance of the river, by 
winding round the banks, or by flowing over them, and a 
much smaller portion by means of the channels which lead 
through the midst of the banks, and directly into the 
entrance of the river. Thirty-seven years ago, the Queens 
Channel, and the Victoria Channel, which now form the 
main entrances into the Mersey, and which run right 
through the banks, either did not exist at all, or were so 
much shallower than they are at present, as to be use- 



13 

less for the purposes of navigation. The tidal current is 
now more concentrated in those channels, and con- 
sequently their depth is greater. At the same time the 
height of the hanks has increased, particularly that of the 
Great Burbo Bank, which lies between the Victoria Channel 
and the Horse and Kock Channels. The latter channels 
wind between the Great Burbo Bank and the Cheshire 
shore, and have become much narrower and shallower, whilst 
the Victoria Channel and the Queen's Channel have 
become so much deeper and wider. The increase in the 
height of the Great Burbo Bank is 6, 8, and 10 feet, and 
even more, within the last thirty-seven years; and the 
changes in the Kock Channel have been even greater. 
Thirty-seven years ago the narrowest part of the Bock 
Channel, at low water of spring tides, was 1,300 feet wide, 
whilst it is now only 400 feet wide. The Hoylake Channel 
into the Dee is also entirely filled up, so that where there 
was 6 feet water at low water, of spring tides, it now dries 1 6 
feet (a difference of 22 feet.) At the same time the main 
entrance to the Horse Channel, between the Dove Spit and 
the North Spit, has narrowed, from 1,200 yards to 700 
yards wide. 

In consequence of these changes or at least simul- 
taneously with them, the force of the flood tide setting 
eastwardly, and almost at right angles, into the Mersey, has 
diminished, while that from the northward which sets in 
directly, has increased, so that the action of flood through 
the Kock Channel, is now too weak to force the tide over to 
the eastward, into Bootle Bay, as heretofore. It now flows 
truer, following the straight line,and causing a greater velo- 
city in the current of the tide, at its entrance into the river* 

B 



14 

As respects the direction of the tidal current below and 
opposite to Liverpool, it appears that the main current of 
flood now keeps parallel to the west, or Cheshire shore, 
from the entrance of the river, where it is about 500 yards 
from that shore, in nearly a straight course up to Birken- 
head. There it turns towards the centre of the river, and 
flows straight forward into the wider part of the estuary, by 
a passage, which the flood or ebb stream has opened for 
itself, through nearly the middle of one of the main banks, 
in the open part of the estuary, known as " Devil's Bank." 
In 18.22, on the contrary, the main current, or axis, of flood 
tide, (and in a reverse direction, that of ebb also,) shot off 
from the entrance of the river, when it was 500 yards from 
the Cheshire shore, across towards the Lancashire side, 
until, when opposite to the present Clarence Dock, it came 
within 250 yards of the latter. It then returned across 
towards the Cheshire shore, and opposite to Birkenhead it 
was only 270 yards from that shore. Thence it crossed again 
over to the Lancashire side, went close to the shore, between 
Devil's Bank and Knott's Hole rocks at Dingle Point, and 
thence into what was then the course of Kuncom ChanneL 
A small tidal channel, also, then kept along the Cheshire 
shore of the estuary up to Ellesmere Port, and Stanlow 
Point, near to which it fell into the main stream. These 
changes, whether in reference to the straightness of the 
channels or to the depths of the water, may be considered 
as improvements. Mr. J. K. Wright, who made the 
survey under the direction of Mr. Walker and ]YIr. John 
B. Hartley, was informed by the masters of craft navi- 
gating the estuary, that they had never known its chan- 
nels to be in a better state than at the time when the survev 



15 

was made. From causes which will be afterwards referred 
to, there has been a more direct and undisturbed action 
of the tides. This has given them sufficient force to make 
their way by degrees, in a straight line, through the middle 
of the Devil's Bank, whereas formerly they were deflected 
round it, to between the south end of the bank and Dingle 
Point. 

On examining the plan of the survey of 1857, it ap- 
pears that the main set of the ebb as well as flood tide is 
now through the straight channel, so that the tidal force is 
more concentrated. In other words, the obstruction, or 
partial dam, which Devil's Bank formed across the middle 
of the river is now broken through. That this concentra- 
tion has taken place in the middle of the stream is shown 
also by the silting up of the low water channel under the 
Cheshire shore, that led to Ellesmere port. The stream 
called Stanlow Pool, which formerly ran close round the 
rocky point of that name, is now deflected from it into the 
main channel, leaving Ellesmere port nearly dry at low 
water. The Weaver navigation has, on the contrary, been 
benefited by the part of the low water channel called 
Prodsham Eiver, which formerly ran parallel to the Ince 
(Cheshire) shore, and kept a separate channel until six 
miles below Weston Point, now joining the main stream at 
that point. Another former stream called the Pool Hall 
Channel is now joined to the main stream ; its bed is dry 
at low water of spring tides, and it can only be used occa- 
sionally at high water. In further proof of the same fact 
a great portion of the flood and ebb water that formerly 
passed round by Dingle Point, is now retained in the main 
channel. 



16 



Whilst the main stream of the tide through the channel, 
harbour, and estuary of the Mersey has thus become 
straighter and more direct, the channels, harbour, and estuary 
have all become deeper. As already mentioned, the 
Victoria and the Queen's Channels, either did not exist at 
all in 1822, or were so shallow at that time that they were 
not thought of. They are now the best entrances into the 
port. 

Within the harbour, commencing at a point 150 yards 
north of the jetty at New Brighton, and proceeding 
upwards to Euncorn, the depth of the river was ascertained 
in 1857, at forty-one different points, by accurate soundings, 
and the result of all, except one or two, was to show a con- 
siderable increase of depth since 1822. From the mouth of 
the river to Dingle Point, the increase of depth varied from 
7 to 10 feet, in and near the navigable channel. It was not 
so great above that point, but there was still an increase. 
Together with this increase of depth, there was also an 
increase in the area of water surface, amounting to six per 
cent, in the upper part of the estuary, extending from the 
narrowest part of the river between Prince's Dock and 
Seacombe, to Ince, a distance of ten miles up the estuary. 
This is a considerable increase of area, and shows that the 
quantity of tidal water which passes up and down at each 
flood and ebb, and acts upon the sands outside the river? 
and down to the bar, has increased, although by far the 
greater proportion of the increase is below low water. 

Whilst the quantity of the tidal water has increased, 
the rate at which it flows into and out of the river has also 
increased. The observed inclination in the surface of the 
ebbing tide, above Seacombe, is 1 in 13,000; below Sea- 



17 



combe, it is 1 in 6,000, showing that Seacombe acts, in 
some degree, as a dam, both from its narrowness and 
shallowness. The depth of the river at Seacombe is only 
63 feet, whilst opposite to New Brighton, two miles 
below Seacombe, it is 93 feet, and opposite to Woodside, 
one mile above Seacombe, 80 feet. Seacombe may there- 
fore be considered as the throat or gorge of the Mersey, as 
far as the navigation is concerned, both as being the 
narrowest part, and also as having a bottom or bed of rock, 
which the current, though great, cannot remove. Experi- 
ments have showed the velocity of the current opposite to 
Seacombe to be 5J miles per hour, with high tides, and 4J 
miles with ordinary spring tides, which is one mile more 
than was observed either above or below the Seacombe 
Narrows. At neap tides the acceleration of the current 
was half a mile per hour, its velocity at that time being two 
miles per hour. According to Lieut. Lord's chart of 1849, 
the velocity at high tides, in the Seacombe Narrows, was 
5J miles. 

In considering the causes which have produced these 
extensive changes, those which naturally suggest them- 
selves are such as have recently taken place in the narrow 
parts of the river, forming the entrance of the estuary, or 
on its shores. It appears that in 1822, the embanked or 
walled side of the river on the east, or Liverpool side, was 
confined to the space between the south side of what is now 
Coburg Dock, and the north side of Prince's Basin, in 
length about 3,000 yards, or less than two miles. This 
walled or embanked side now extends from the Hercula- 
neum Estate on the south, to the middle of Bootle Bay on 
the north, a length of about 9,700 yards, or upwards of 
B 2 



18 



five miles. Of this newly- constructed sea wall 4,500 yards 
is to the north of the dock enclosures, as they existed in 
1822. Over this space the tide had at that time full 
action, spreading freely over the wide space of Bootle Bay 
and the Mile House Kocks. The river now decreases from 
a width of 1,800 yards at its mouth, to about 980 yards at 
the narrows between Seacombe Ferry Pier and the north 
end of Prince's Dock Pier. The width also of the 
reclaimed area is much greater at the northern, than at the 
southern extremity, being 380 yards wide at Prince's Basin, 
and 900 yards wide at the Bootle, or north end : it there 
forms an area of about 560 acres, while the southern enclosure 
is only about 80 acres. On the west, or Cheshire side, also, 
the water has been excluded from Wallasey Pool, and a 
river wall 800 yards in length has been built for the 
Birkenhead Docks. As respects the question of abstrac- 
tions or enclosures affecting the tidal current opposite 
Liverpool, the most important is no doubt the reclamation 
at the north end of the Liverpool Docks, which has 
prevented the flood-tide from spreading into Bootle Bay, as 
it did before the enclosure, and has, by confining it to the 
front of the dock walls straightened the line of its direction, 
,as well as strengthened the current.* 

Such are the changes which have taken place in the 
navigation of the Mersey in the course of the last thirty- 
seven years. In every respect they show an improvement ; 
and the result of the care and attention which have been 
given to the river and harbour during that period, is such 
as to encourage the hope that the new works which are now 

* Keport to the Corporation of Liverpool, by J. Walker and 
J, B. Hartley, Esqrs., Civil Engineers, on the River Mersey, 1857. 



19 



in course of construction, on the same principle as those 
already formed, will prove equally beneficial to the navi- 
gation of the port. 

COMPARATIVE DEPTH OF THE MERSEY IN 1822 AND 1857. 



Locality. 



Greatest 
depth in 1822. 



Greatest 
Depth in 1857. 



At the mouth of the river, on the line of 

section No. 1, opposite New Brighton 
Online 2, \ mile south of No. 1 

„ 3, opposite Canada Dock 

„ 4, Ditto 

„ 5, opposite Huskisson Dock , 

. , 6, opposite Sandon Basin 

„ 7, opposite Egremont 

„ 8, opposite Salisbury Dock 

„ 9, opposite Clarence Dock 

„ 10, at Seacombe 

„ 11, opposite Prince's Dock, (north ) 
end) J 

„ 12, Ditto (south end) 

„ 13, opposite George's Dock 

„ 14, opposite Albert Dock 

„ 15, opposite Duke's Dock 

„ 16, opposite Queen's Basin 

„ 17, opposite Coburg Dock 

„ 18, opposite Brunswick Dock 

„ 19, opposite Toxteth Dock 

„ 20, opposite Harrington Dock 

„ 21, above Egerton Dock 

„ 22, above Herculaneum Estate 

„ 23, above Dingle Point 



Feet. 

67 

81 
82 
78 
74 
60 
65 
72 
72 
61 

58 

63 
65 
68 
74 
63 
67 
62 
63 
56 
51 
49 
42 



Inch. 


3 


6 
4 
3 

8 






9 
10 
4 
2 
3 
8 
6 
2 
8 

5 



Feet. 

73 

93 
93 

85 
77 
67 
65 
77 
79 
65 

65 

71 
69 
80 
80 
78 
78 
70 
72 
67 
60 
57 
46 



Inch 






6 
9 


6 




THE NEW SEA WALL FROM SEACOMBE TO EGREMONT. 



As a measure of precaution, and to prevent the washing 
away of the steep banks on the Cheshire side of the river, 
the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board are at present 
building a river wall north of Seacombe, (under the pro- 
visions of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Act of 1857, 
sec. 65.) 



20 



In a report on this subject presented by Mr. John 
B. Hartley, the Dock Engineer, to the Works Committee of 
the Board, on the 18th of March, 1858,— Mr. Hartley said, 
that the river gradually decreases in width from upwards of 
1,800 yards at its mouth, to about 980 yards at the narrows, 
between Seacombe Ferry Pier and the north end of the 
Prince's Dock wall. The velocity and momentum which 
the flood tide has acquired during its passage up from the 
sea between the banks, are consequently checked at this 
point, and the rushing force it exerts to get through the 
stricture, reveals itself in the increased action upon the 
sides of the stream, as is made manifest by a comparison of 
the sections taken during the past year with those of the 
survey made in 1819 to 1822. Formerly, and indeed until 
the construction of the docks northward of the Prince's 
Basin, the Cheshire shore, below Seacombe, was left, as it 
were, almost entirely in a slack water, from the large 
expanse which the flood tide had to flow to, in Bootle Bay 
and over the Milehouse rocks ; consequently, at that time, 
there was no wasting away of the land in question; but as 
the North Wall of the dock estate, and that across the 
mouth of Wallasey Pool, had been built, and as the flow of 
the tide, both on the ebb and flood, had been confined 
within straighter limits, the effect had been to create a 
current running more truly in the direction of the river's 
banks, of greater velocity and power, and producing more 
beneficial effects, not only upon the banks in the estuary, 
but also on those to seaward, by the formation of more 
direct channels, with as great, if not greater, depth of 
water, but at the same time causing an increased scour, 
.upon some portions of the shores, from the causes above 



21 



explained. The remedy for this latter evil was at once 
obvious, namely, the protecting the face of the land, by a 
wall. 

The wall thus recommended to be constructed was 
commenced in the month of September, 1858. It com- 
mences immediately to the north of the esplanade at Sea- 
combe, and extends as far north as the steep clay beds, 
forming the banks of the river, extend beyond north Egre- 
mont. This wall, when finished, will be 1,300 yards in 
length, and it will be built to an average height of 20 feet, 
and of an average thickness of 7 feet. 



THE WALLASEY EMBANKMENT. 

Before proceeding to describe the constitution of the 
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and the great works 
which have been constructed, or are in course of construc- 
tion, on both sides of the river Mersey, it may be well to 
mention a work which has been formed, in the outer part 
of the port, for the purpose of protecting the port and 
harbour from a threatened irruption of the sea. This 
work is intimately connected with the conservancy of the 
port, although erected under the powers of a separate act of 
parliament. 

That part of the shores of the port of Liverpool which 
lies outside the estuary of the Mersey, and which extends 
from the Rock Lighthouse to the Red Stones in Hoylake, 
at the entrance of the river Dee, consists chiefly of a flat 
sandy beach, forming a continuation of the plain, which 
extends from the foot of the Cheshire hills to the sea. 



22 



This shore is lined, along the greater part of its course, 
with sand hills or downs, which have heen raised hy the 
action of the prevailing winds, on the sand of the sea 
shores and of the neighbouring banks. These sand hills 
are held together very slightly, by the roots of the star 
grass which grows among them, and they are alike liable 
to be swept into the interior, by the action of the winds, 
and to be undermined, by the waves of the sea, which dash 
against their base, at unusually high tides or in stormy 
weather. There are strong evidences, along this coast, that 
the sea has made great inroads on the land. Between 
Hoylake and Leasowes the remains of an ancient forest 
are found, on the sea shore, extending to a considerable dis- 
tance below high water mark. The roots of the trees are 
still firmly fixed in the ground, in the position in which 
they grew, although they are now covered twice a day by 
the tides. On the same shore, but nearer to Leasowes, 
there are large beds of turf, which must have grown in 
fresh water marshes, but which are also covered at high 
water by the sea. At Leasowes, the continued action of 
the sea, has not only undermined and swept away the 
sandy downs which formerly existed on the shore, but has 
hollowed out a deep bay. Following the line of the lowest 
level, from this point of the coast, across the grassy plain 
now known as the Leasowes of Wallasey, to the outlet of 
the waters of this district, into the river Mersey, through 
Wallasey Pool, evidences have also been found, in digging 
into the ground, of a former irruption of the sea, by which 
lofty trees, covered with leaves and fruit, were suddenly 
overwhelmed and buried in the earth, under the force of a 
sudden inundation. 



23 



About thirty years ago the encroachments of the sea, on 
this coast, were so rapid as to excite fears that its waves 
would again break in, during some unusually heavy storm, 
at the lowest part of the coast, flooding the low lands 
adjoining, carrying great masses of sand down Wallasey 
Pool into the Mersey, and injuring the Eock Channel, 
which was at that time the principal entrance into the 
port. To prevent this evil, the corporation of Liverpool 
agreed to join with the neighbouring landowners, in 
erecting an embankment, on the shore, of sufficient 
strength to resist the encroachments of the sea. An act 
of parliament for that purpose was accordingly applied for, 
and obtained. 

The Wallasey Embankment Act, passed in the session 
of 1829, recites, that there was reason to apprehend that 
serious injury, would arise to the port of Liverpool, in the 
event of any further progress of the sea, on the sea shore, 
to the north-west side of the Leasowes, in the townships of 
Wallasey and Great Meols, in the county of Chester, by the 
diversion of the tidal waters, from one of the channels of 
navigation in the said port, and the consequent accumulation 
of silt, and the formation of sand banks, in various parts of 
the river Mersey. To prevent this, the Act provided, that a 
body of commissioners, seven in number, should be formed, 
furnished with powers to construct an embankment, on the 
part of the coast which was threatened by the violence of 
the sea, of sufficient strength and height to prevent further 
encroachments. The act further provided that if the sand 
hills to the south-east or north-west of the proposed embank- 
ment should fall down, or be blown away, the embankment 
should be extended, in both directions, so as to render it 



24 



effectual, for the protection of the adjoining lands, and the 
prevention of injury to the port of Liverpool, from the 
encroachments of the sea. The expense of erecting and 
maintaining embankments, fences, and other works, and any 
extension of them, and also the subsequent repairs and 
amendments of the same, were to be borne* by the corpora- 
tion of Liverpool and the adjoining landowners, in equal 
moieties. 

In accordance with the provisions of this act, a huge 
embankment of earth, faced with hewn stone, was erected 
along the shore, at the point threatened by the violence of 
the waves, which has prevented any further encroachment 
of the sea. It has, however, been found necessary, from 
time to time, to raise, strengthen, and greatly extend the 
original structure. The embankment, as it now stands, is 
3,000 yards in length, 102 feet in average thickness, and 
presents to the sea a sloping front, formed of stone-work 
of wall stones, containing many thousands of square yards 
of niasonry. The ends of the embankment, on the sea 
shore, and the adjoining sandhills, are protected by lines 
of fascines, so arranged as to break the force of the 
waves. This embankment will become doubly valuable, 
when the great and costly works, now forming in the 
ancient pool of Wallasey, are completed and brought into 
use. 

By the Mersey Docks and Harbour Act of 1857, the 
cost of maintaining the Wallasey Embankment, and all 
powers vested in and all obligations relating to it, are, after 
the 1st day of January, 1858, transferred to the Mersey 
Docks and Harbour Board (section 33). 

The sum expended in constructing and maintaining the 



25 



Wallasey embankment, up to the year 1857, was upwards 
of £60,000, of which £30,000 was contributed by the cor- 
poration of Liverpool. In addition to this amount, the 
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, last year paid the sum 
of £1708 7s. 10d., as their moiety of an assessment, for 
repairs of the embankment.* 



THE MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR ACTS OF 1857 
AND 1858. 

Having described the natural features of the Port of 
Liverpool, and the arrangements made for its protection 
and preservation, we next proceed to give a brief account 
of the governing body of the port, harbour, and docks, as 
established by the "Mersey Docks and Harbour Acts" 
of 1857 and 1858.f The first of these acts is entitled, 
"An Act for Consolidating the Docks at Liverpool and 
Birkenhead into One Estate, and for vesting the Control 
and Management of them in One Public Trust; and for 
other purposes." [25th August, 1857.] The second is 
entitled, "An Act to Consolidate and Amend the provi- 
sions of the several Acts, relating to the Liverpool and 
Birkenhead Docks and the Port and Harbour of Liverpool, 
and for other purposes connected therewith." [12th July, 
1858.] The first of these Acts establishes a new constitu- 
tion of the governing body ; the second brings together, 

* Accounts of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board to 24th June, 
1858, page 18. 

f Acts of the Twentieth and Twenty-first of Victoria, cap. 162, and 
of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second of Victoria, cap. 92. 
C 



26 

within the compass of a single act of parliament, containing, 
however, three hundred and sixty- eight sections, all that is 
of material importance and permanent value in relation to 
the docks of Liverpool, in the Acts passed from the date of 
the first dock act in the eighth of Queen Anne (1709) to 
the twenty-second year of Queen Victoria (1858). 

CONSTITUTION OF THE MERSEY DOCKS AND 
HARBOUR BOARD. 

The Constitution of the Mersey Docks and Harbour 
Board, as established by the act of 1857, altered and 
amended by the act of 1858, is as follows : 

By the Mersey Docks and Harbour Act of 1857 (sec- 
tion 5), a board is created, called "The Mersey Docks 
and Harbour Board," which, it is stated, is to be a body 
corporate, with a perpetual succession, and a common seal ; 
and by the Act of 1858 (sec. 31), it is stated, that the 
board thus formed, was intended, "to have, exercise, and 
enjoy, from and after the first day of January, 1858, all 
the powers, authorities, rights, privileges, immunities, indem- 
nities, benefits, and advantages, theretofore vested in, or 
exercised, or enjoyed by, or which might have been exercised 
or enjoyed by, the Trustees of the Liverpool Docks, and 
to be in all respects, and to all intents and purposes, a 
continuation of the corporation of the Trustees of the 
Liverpool Docks." 

It is provided by the act of 1857 (sec. 6), that this board 
shall consist of twenty-one members; but by the act of 
1858 (sec. .24), the number of members is increased to twenty- 
eight. Of these members, twenty-four, named " the elective 



27 

members, " are to be chosen by the dock rate-payers, and 
four, to be named "the nominee members," are to be 
appointed by the Conservancy Commissioners of the river 
Mersey, that is, by the First Lord of the Admiralty, the 
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Chief Com- 
missioner of Woods and Forests, for the time being. 

The term of office of the members of the board, as 
fixed by the act of 1857, was three years; but this was 
extended, by the act of 1858, to four years. The following 
section of the latter act (section 28) will explain the 
arrangement made, with regard to the term of service of the 
twenty-four members of the permanent board, elected on 
the third day of January, 1859. The section is as 
follows : " The elective members of the provisional 
board shall retire from office on the first day of 
January, 1859, or if the election of the twenty-four 
elective members hereby required to be elected on that 
day shall not be then concluded, then, on the earliest day 
thereafter, on which such election shall be concluded, and 
on the same first day of January, the dock electors shall, in 
the manner provided by the Mersey Dock and Harbour Act, 
1857, as varied by this act, proceed to elect twenty-four 
duly qualified persons, to be the elective members of the 
board; and such members, as soon as conveniently may 
be, after their first assembling together, shall, either by 
agreement or by lot, divide themselves into four classes ; 
the members comprised in the first class shall retire from 
office, on the first day of January, 1860; those in the 
second class shall retire from office, on the first day of 
January, 1861 ; those in the third class shall retire from 
office, on the first day of January, 1862 ; and those in the 



28 

fourth class shall retire from office, on the first clay of 
January, 1863 ; and on the first day of January in every 
succeeding year, the six elected rnemhers who shall then 
have been longest in office, shall retire therefrom, and on 
every such periodical retirement, as aforesaid, six duly 
qualified persons, shall, in the manner aforesaid, be elected 
to supply the vacancies ; and every new member may remain 
in office for four years, and no longer." 

The qualification of the elective members of the board, 
as fixed by the act of 1857 (section 11), is thus stated: 
" No person shall be qualified to be an elective member of 
the board, unless he reside within the borough or the cus- 
toms port of Liverpool, or within ten miles of the outward 
boundary of the said borough or port, and has paid within 
the year immediately preceding his election, rates to an 
amount of not less than £50 ;" but this qualification was 
altered by the act of 1858, which provides (section 26) 
that " after the thirty-first day of December, 1858, the 
payment of rates to an amount of not less than £25, shall 
be a sufficient pecuniary qualification for an elective member 
of the board, in lieu of an amount of not less than £50, as 
required by the ' Mersey Docks and Harbour Act' of 1857." 

The qualification of the electors of the board, is the 
payment of £10 of rates, and is thus provided for, 
by the act of 1857 : — " On the first day of August, 1858, 
and on the first day of August in every succeeding year, 
the board shall cause a list to be made, to be called the 
List of Dock Electors ; and every British subject who 
has, during the year immediately preceding, paid to 
the board, in respect of rates legally demandable from 
him, an amount of not less than £10, shall be entitled to 



29 



have his name placed on the list, and be qualified to 
vote at the next ensuing election for members of the 
board" (section 18, 2). 

The annual list of dock voters, qualified to vote under 
these acts, was prepared and revised in August, 1858. The 
number of qualified voters on the register, was 1451. On 
the 1st and 3rd of January, in the present year, the electors 
registered in 1858 exercised their franchise, in the election 
of the first permanent "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board,'' 
when the gentlemen, whose names are given at the com- 
mencement of this report, as the present members of the 
board, were elected to that honourable and laborious office. 



THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MERSEY DOCKS AND 
HARBOUR BOARD. 

The functions of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board 
naturally divide themselves into two parts. The first 
relate to the security of vessels using the port and harbour ; 
the second to the accommodation and despatch of those 
vessels. The former include everything that relates to the 
management of the harbour itself; the second, everything 
that relates to the construction, the extension, and the 
management of the docks. These duties are equally im- 
portant. The first affect the safety of upwards of twenty 
thousand vessels, which now sail into and out of Liverpool 
every year, with half a million passengers, emigrants, and 
seamen, as well as cargoes of the yearly value of upwards 
of £100,000,000, carried in them ; the second affect the 
c2 



30 



ease, cheapness, and expedition, with which upwards of 
four millions and a half of tonnage is loaded and unloaded, 
repaired and accommodated, in the docks and harbour of 
the same port. The attention of the members of the Mersey 
Docks and Harbour Board are chiefly turned to the follow- 
ing objects, in connection with the safety of the port: 

First, to the obtaining of correct surveys, and the pub- 
lishing of correct charts of the port, for the information 
and guidance of the navigators of all nations, who resort 
to it, in so great numbers. 

Second, to the buoying of the banks and channels, 
leading into the port. 

Third, to the erecting of lighthouses, and to the con- 
structing of lightships, for the guidance of vessels entering 
the port by night. 

Fourth, to the organizing of the pilot service of the port. 

Fifth, to the forming of a line of telegraphs, along the 
headlands of the coast, from Liverpool to the point at 
which vessels approaching the port are first seen, and 
those leaving it are last recognized. 

Sixth, to the building and arranging for the prompt 
service of the crews of life-boats, on all those points of 
the coast, on which wrecks and casualties, involving danger 
to life, most frequently occur. 

Seventh, to the furnishing the means of testing chrono- 
meters of captains of vessels frequenting the port, and 
supplying them with correct time at sea. 

Eighth, to the furnishing them with means of testing 
the correctness of their compasses, which, with chrono- 
meters, are the great means of giving safety to modem 
navigation. 



31 



THE CHARTS OF THE PORT AND RIVER. 

The entrance of the port of Liverpool, as already 
stated, is naturally dangerous. Vessels approaching it have 
to pass through the midst of a long range of sand hanks 
by means of narrow channels. In order that this may he 
done with safety, it has been necessaiy to obtain the services 
of able hydro graphers, in ascertaining and describing 
the positions of all the banks and channels ; and it is not 
less necessary to retain permanently the services of an 
experienced officer, as marine surveyor, to watch, to 
mark by buoys, and to indicate in charts, the changes 
which are continually taking place, as soon as they occur. 
These are most extensive and frequent. Within twenty 
years of the present time > as already stated, the principal 
approaches to the port, through the mass of sand banks 
which fill the bay of Liverpool, were by means of two 
narrow channels, one of which winds along the Cheshire, 
and the other along the Lancashire, shore. The one which 
follows the Lancashire coast, near Formby Point, has been 
nearly filled up, by the accumulation of the sands, and,, 
though it has recently improved, it is exceedingly narrow 
and crooked. The other, which follows the line of the 
Cheshire shore, from the neighbourhood of Hoylake to the 
Kock, at the entrance of the river, is also winding, and, in 
some places, very narrow and inconvenient. It is scarcely 
possible that a commerce so vast in extent, and carried on 
in vessels of so great a magnitude, as those which frequent 
the port of Liverpool, could have been conducted success- 
fully, if no better passages had existed than these. 
Happily, a passage was discovered, at the commencement 



32 

of the reign of her present Majesty, through the very 
middle of the sand banks which lie at the entrance of the 
Mersey, to which the name of the Victoria Channel was 
given. The shallowest part of this channel, forming the 
Bar of the port, was dredged, the channel itself was care- 
fully buoyed and lighted, and from the year 1836 to 
the year 1857, this channel continued to be the main 
entrance into the port. It was used both night and day, and 
that by the largest class of vessels. But the movements 
of the sand banks, which originally formed this channel, 
have, during the last few years, greatly diminished its 
usefulness ; for, though there is still a good depth of water, 
and although the Victoria Channel can still be used with 
advantage, so long as there is light enough to show the 
buoys which mark its course, the channel itself has become 
so crooked, as to render it useless and even dangerous, when 
the buoys are no longer visible. Fortunately, while one set 
of changes has thus injured the form of the Victoria 
Channel, another has opened a second and more direct 
channel, named the Queen's, which is alike available by 
night and by day. 

In making the changes rendered necessary by the altera- 
tion in the Victoria Channel, and the opening of the Queen s,, 
it was requisite to change the position of the Formby Light- 
ship, and of thirteen of the buoys which mark the channels ; 
it was also necessary to abandon the use of the Formby 
Lighthouse, to ascertain and record the alteration of the 
bearings and distances of thirty or forty different objects, 
used in navigating the entrance to the river, to remove 
several of the buoys previously used, and to lay down several 
new ones. The extent and nature of these changes, and 



33 

the very recent period at which they have heen made, show 
how much the safety of navigation depends on constant vigi- 
lance, in watching the changes which are taking place in the 
banks and channels, and in at once pointing them out, by means 
of buoys, at the points at which they occur, and on the charts, 
by immediate alterations. All these changes are clearly 
seen in the " Chart of the Approaches to Liverpool, from 
a survey made by order of the Trustees of the Liverpool 
Docks, by Lieut. Murray T. Parks, K.N., Marine Surveyor, 
1858." How long this chart will indicate the actual 
position of the banks, shoals, and channels, no one can 
venture to say, for changes as great as those which have 
occurred during the last ten years, may occur at any time. 
The arrangements are, however, complete for securing the 
immediate recording of all such changes. Nothing but un- 
ceasing vigilance, in watching and recording them, can render 
the charts of the port of any use to navigators; and it 
must be remembered that charts which do not show the 
actual position of existing dangers are the most effectual 
means of leading vessels to destruction. 

It is only by means of buoys and land marks, carefully 
arranged, numbered, and marked, that vessels can pass, 
even in the day time, through so narrow and intricate a 
navigation as that which leads into the port of Liverpool ; 
and it would be impossible for them to enter the port at 
night, without the assistance of numerous lighthouses on 
shore, and of several lightships, anchored in the principal 
passages which lead into the port. In the preamble of the 
first dock act, which was passed in the eighth of Queen 
Anne (1709), it is stated, "That the entries into the 
harbour or port (of Liverpool) have been found so dan- 



34 



gerous and difficult, that great numbers of strangers and 
others have frequently lost their lives, as well as ships and 
goods, for want of proper land marks, buoys, and other 
directions, into the harbour ; " and in the preamble of the 
Act of the second of George the Third (1762), it is declared 
that " By reason of the many sand banks, that lie off the 
adjacent sea coast and the entrance of the harbour to Liver- 
pool, and by the frequent moving and shifting of the banks, 
and thereby choking up, shortening, or confining the old 
channels or currents, and making and forming new channels 
and currents in the sea, and there being at present no light- 
houses or other lights erected and set out, ships and vessels 
sailing to and from the said port and harbour of Liverpool, 
are frequently engaged and entangled, in dark and tempes- 
tuous nights, within the said banks and shoals; and tho 
navigation into and from the said port and harbour is very 
difficult, precarious, and uncertain, whereby the lives and 
properties of several of Iris Majesty's subjects have from 
time to time been lost, and are frequently endangered ; 
and whereas, by the erecting of proper lighthouses in con- 
venient places, within and near the said port, the navigation 
into the said port or harbour of Liverpool would be ren- 
dered more safe and certain, not only to all trading ships 
and vessels, but also for his Majesty's ships of war." The 
expectation held out in the latter part of the above passage 
may be considered to have been fully realised, when it is 
stated that although more than fifty thousand vessels 
passed through these channels yearly in 1855, 1856, and 
1857, entering or leaving the port, the means of safety are 
now so complete, that only five of them were lost in the first 
of these years, six in the second, and only one in the third. 



35 

The following is a sketch of the plan adopted with 
regard to the huoys laid down at the entrance of the port : 



THE BUOYING OF THE ENTRANCES TO THE PORT. 

Each channel leading into the port has its own system 
of buoys, and every buoy is marked with the initial of 
the channel, and its own number in the channel. Thus a 
vessel approaching the Queen's Channel, first falls in with 
the Queen's Fairway Buoy or Bell Beacon, and finds it 
inscribed with the letters Q. Fy. This Fairway Buoy is 
of conical form, and 28 feet in height, and that it may not 
be missed by vessels approaching the Queen's Channel by 
night, or in foggy weather, it is provided with a powerful 
bell, which is kept sounding at all times, by the action of 
the winds and tides on the buoy. Passing forward directly 
towards the Formby Light-vessel, (painted red and with a 
red ball,) through the Queen's Channel, the dangers of the 
Little Burbo Bank are shown to the right, or starboard, by 
a line of chequered red and white buoys, of the shape known 
to seamen as "can" buoys; and the dangers from the 
banks called the Zebra Flats, to the left, or port, by chequered 
black and white buoys, of the shape known as "nun" 
buoys. Opposite the Queen's Fairway Buoy there is 36 
feet of water at the lowest tides ; but in passing between 
the Little Burbo Bank and the Zebra Flats, the depth of 
water, when it is lowest, is not more than 12 feet. This is 
the Bar of the harbour. After passing it the water deepens 
to 16, 20, and to 24 feet at the Formby Light- vessel. 
Passing on from the Formby Light- vessel to the Crosby Light- 



36 



vessel, through the Crosby Channel, the dangers to the 
right are shown by a line of red " can " buoys, and those 
to the left by a line of black " nun " buoys, which continue 
on both sides, to the entrance of the river. These buoys are 
marked C. 1, C. 2, and so on, all through the Crosby 
Channel. 

The number of channels through, or amongst the sand 
banks which are distinguished by separate letters and 
numbers, is eleven, namely, — F. the Formby Channel, C. 
the Crosby Channel, Z. the Zebra Channel, H. the Horse 
Channel, Q. the Queen's Channel, E. the Eock Channel, 
H. E. the Helbre-Swash, B. P. the Beggars Patch, L. the 
Lake or Hoylake, V. the Victoria Channel, and S. V.the Sup- 
plementary Victoria Channel. The uniform arrangement, 
with regard to the colour of the buoys, is that the red 
buoys are on the starboard hand or right, and the black 
on the port hand or left, when running into the port. The 
edges of the banks or flats, intervening between the 
channels, are marked by black and white chequered buoys. 
Superior " can " buoys, of a larger size, and supplied with 
perches at the top, point out the turning points or elbows 
of the principal channels.* The number of buoys laid 
down at various points in the channels and on the edges of 
the banks, amounts to 63, and whenever sudden danger 
arises from a wreck in the channel, a buoy is let down, at 
the place of danger. The wreck buoys are green in colour, 
and have the letters W. B. " wreck buoy " painted on them, 
in white letters. 

* A Chart of the Approaches to Liverpool, from a Survey made by 
direction of the Trustees of the Docks, by Lieut. Murray T. Parks, R.N., 
Marine Surveyor, 1858. 



37 



THE LIGHTHOUSES AND FLOATING LIGHTS. 

Even greater care has been taken to enable the mul- 
titude of vessels, which arrive off the port in the night 
time, to reach it in safety, by means of a succession of 
lighthouses and lightships. These commence at Point 
Lynas, at the north-east point of the Isle of Anglesea, 
about fifty miles from the port, and are continued to the 
Eock Lighthouse, at the entrance of the river. 

The distance of the lighthouse at Point Lynas from the 
Bell Beacon, leading into the Queen's Channel, and from 
the North-west Lightship, which is the outermost of the 
floating lights, is about thirty-nine miles. The height of 
the lighthouse at Point Lynas is 128 feet, and it shows a 
light, flashing at intervals of ten seconds. 

The next lighthouses, in point of position, approaching 
the Mersey, are the upper and lower lights at Hoylake. 
The lower Hoylake light serves to warn vessels entering 
and leaving the port at night of the position of the north- 
west spit of great East Hoyle Bank, one of the most 
dangerous banks at the entrance to the channels. The 
Upper Lake, or Hoylake, Lighthouse serves to point out 
the entrance to the Horse Channel. This channel leads to 
the Eock Channel, and together they form the principal of 
the ancient entrances into the port. They are still much 
used, no less than fifteen thousand vessels passing through 
them yearly. 

Proceeding up this channel, the Leasowes Light, built 
close to the shore, is seen, shining from sunset to sunrise, 
(as all the lights do) with a steady yellow light, from reflec- 



38 

tors, at an elevation of 110 feet. By means of changes in 
the relative positions of the Leasowe and Bidston Lights, 
vessels make their way from the North-west Lightship to 
the Fairway Buoy of the Horse Channel. This is a large 
buoy, or vessel, supplied with a powerful bell, which rings 
continually, from the motion of the waves and currents of 
the sea. 

Further inland, and on the summit of the lofty hill at 
Bidston, is the Bidston Lighthouse. The reflectors of this 
lighthouse are at an altitude of 240 feet, and exhibit a steady 
yellow light, which is seen many miles at sea. This light- 
house enables vessels to clear objects so distant as the 
banks named the Jordan Flats, which are beyond the Great 
and the Little Burbo, and the Victoria and the Queen's 
Channels. It is also one of the principal lights by which 
sliips make their way at night clear of the banks, and 
through the Horse Channel, into the Bock Channel. 

The Kock Lighthouse, at the entrance of the river 
Mersey, exhibits an intermitting red and yellow light, the 
red light showing every third minute. The altitude of the 
reflectors of the Bock Lighthouse is 77 feet. A steady 
yellow light is also thrown into the Bock Channel and 
south-eastward, from a lower chamber of this lighthouse, 
so long as 1 1 feet of water remains in the gut of the Bock 
Channel, — a narrow passage which becomes nearly dry 
at low water. A black ball hung out from the Bock 
Lighthouse by day, also denotes that there is the same 
depth of water, namely 1 1 feet, in the Bock Gut. During 
fogs, a bell is tolled in this lighthouse, to warn vessels of 
the nearness of the rock, on winch many vessels were lost 
in former times, and on which nearly a hundred people 



39 

perished, in a single wreck, within living memory. The 
Eock Lighthouse was built by the corporation of Liverpool, 
at a cost of ^£30,000, and has been used by the dock 
estate, at a rent of ^1 a year, ever since it was erected. 

Approaching the port of Liverpool, along the shores of 
Lancashire, the first lighthouse is that of Formby ; but it 
has ceased to be used, within the last two years, owing to 
the alteration in the course of vessels, caused by the 
changes in the Victoria aud the Queen's Channels. Other 
changes may again bring it into use. 

The Crosby Lighthouse, also on the Lancashire shore, 
has become more important than ever, in consequence of 
those changes. It exhibits a steady red light, from reflec- 
tors, at an altitude of 96 feet. 

From the nature and extent of the banks, the lighthouses 
erected on the shores of the bay of Liverpool are not 
sufficient, to insure the safety of vessels entering and leaving 
the port by night. To supply this deficiency, three floating 
lightships have been built, and are kept moored at all times, 
at the entrance or in the windings of the channels, which 
lead into the port. 

The first of these vessels is the North-west Lightship. 
It lies directly in the path of vessels entering or leaving 
the port, by the Eock and Horse Channels. The North-west 
Lightship is a three-masted vessel, with a black hull, marked 
with a broad white streak. By day it shows a black ball, 
and by night three lights, arranged in the order of fore, 
main, and mizen tops. It burns a blue light every two 
hours of darkness, after six p.m., and sounds a gong and 
bell, alternately, during fogs, to warn vessels of their 
position, and of the neighbourhood of the banks. 



40 



The second floating light is the Formhy Light-vessel, 
which is moored at the bend, between the Queen's Channel 
and the Crosby Channel. The Formby Light-vessel has 
only two masts, it is painted red, and it shows a red ball 
by day, and two yellow lights by night. Vessels making 
a course from Point Lynas to the Bell Beacon, at the 
entrance of the Queen's Channel, can pass through that 
channel in safety, when they have the Formby Floating 
Light on the Crosby Shore Light. 

Further in the channel, and at the point where the 
Queen's and the Crosby Channels join, is the Crosby Light- 
ship. This vessel is painted red, and shows a red ball by 
day ; by night it shows a single yellow light. From the 
Crosby Light to the Kock Lighthouse there is a clear wide 
passage into the port, the lights at the Bock being visible 
nearly all the distance. Once within the Rock, both sides 
of the river present a blaze of light, from the lights of the 
town and neighbourhood, which extend from Crosby to 
Garston on one side, and from the Bock Lighthouse to 
New Ferry on the other. 



THE LANDMARKS ON THE LANCASHIRE AND 
CHESHIRE SHORES. 

In addition to lights, lighthouses, and buoys, there are 
great numbers of land marks on the shores of Lancashire 
and Cheshire, some of them erected for that purpose, others 
erected for different purposes, but which have been found 
useful as guides to vessels, entering or leaving the port, 
and are shown on the charts of the marine surveyor. The 



41 

views on those charts show the positions and bearing of 
the following objects : 

View A of the chart, which is entitled " Appearance of 
the Land, with Crosby Lighthouse on Formby Lightship, 
S.E. by E. half E., leading in the Fairway, over the Bar of 
Queen's Channel, " shows the position of the following 
objects on the Lancashire coast: — North-west Beach Mark, 
the North-west Mark, Eormby Church, Eormby Mill, Formby 
New Church, Formby Lifeboat House and Flagstaff, Orm- 
skirk Mill, (some miles off,) Formby Old Lighthouse, Crosby 
Lighthouse, Formby Lightship, Crosby Beach Mark, Crosby 
Catholic Chapel, Crosby Mill, Crosby New Church, Crosby 
Light-vessel, the Asphalte Chimney, and Walton Gaol. 

View B of the chart is entitled " Appearance of the 
Land, with Bidston Lighthouse bearing S. half E., leading 
into the Fairway, over the Zebra Flats, clear of Jordan 
Flats," and shows the appearance and relative position and 
bearings of the following objects, some of which are on the 
Lancashire, and others on the Cheshire coast : Everton 
Church, Liverpool highest chimney, New Brighton Church, 
Wallasey Old Church, Formby Lightship, Bidston Light- 
house, S. half E., (which clears Jordan Flats and leads 
into the Fairway,) Leasowe Lighthouse, and Hoylake 
Hotel. 

View C is entitled " Appearance of Liverpool, rounding 
the N.E. elbow of the Great Burbo in the Fairway, with 
St. Nicholas's Church on Kock Lighthouse, S. by E. quarter 
E., leading up on the Burbo side of the Crosby Channel," 
and shows the appearance and bearings of the following 
objects on the Lancashire and Cheshire coasts : — Crosby 
Catholic Chapel, Everton Church, Liverpool highest chimney, 

D 2 



42 



Eock Lighthouse and St. Nicholas's Church in one, New 
Brighton Church, and Wallasey Old Church. 

View D is entitled "Appearance of Bidston and adjoining 
Land, when Bidston Lighthouse is its apparent "breadth open 
to the Eastward of the Leasowe Lighthouse, (bearing S.E. 
quarter S.,) lead from N.W. Lightship up the Horse Channel 
until Hoylake Light bears South," and shows the appear- 
ance and position of the following objects : — Wallasey 
Church S. 56° E., Leasowe Castle, Bidston Lighthouse, 
alt. 30, (The Mark) Leasowe Lighthouse S. 41° 12 E. three 
miles, Woodchurch, Thingwall Mill, Grange Beacon S. 9° 
S.W., Hoylake Upper Lighthouse. 

View E is entitled " Appearance of Grange and Hilbre 
Island with Hoylake Lighthouses in one, (bearing S.W. by 
S.,) indicating when you must haul up the Bock Channel," 
and shows a point S. 9° 15 W. Grange Beacon, S. 22° 57 W. 
Hoylake Church, Hoylake Lighthouses, S. 34° 40 W. one 
mile and three-quarters, (The Mark) Moel Eammou alt. 1°, 
Hotel, Hilbre Telegraph, S. G4° 40 W. 

View G is entitled " Appearance of Land when entering 
Kock Gut with Walton (or Inner Bootle) Mark widening 
between the two Shore Marks," and shows the appearance 
and position of Walton Gaol, Bootle Stack, Upper Bootle 
Mark, between the two shore marks, Walton Church, and 
New Brighton Church. 

View H is entitled " Appearance of Bidston and con- 
tiguous feature with Bidston Lighthouse, locking on the 
East side of Leasowe Castle, (bearing S.S.E. quarter E.,) 
ensures being from a quarter to one mile Westward of 
Burbo Elats," and shows the following objects : — Wallasey 
Church, S. 41° 35 E. Bidston Lighthouse, alt. 30, Leasowe 



43 

Castle, S. 22° 30 E. Leasowe Lighthouse, Grange Beacon 
S. 26° U W. 

View I is entitled " Appearance of Grange Land and 
Hilbre Island when running from the outer Lightship np 
Hilbre Swash, with the two Beacons in one (bearing S. 
half E.,)" and shows the following objects : — Upper Hoy- 
lake Light, S. 31° E. Hotel, Grange Beacon S. 21° 28 E. 
Kirby Church, Beacons in one, S. 5° 30 E. two and a half 
miles, (The Mark) Hilbre Island Telegraph S. 2° W. 

The general result of giving the appearance of these 
numerous objects is that navigators, in entering or leaving 
the port, have the opportunity of ascertaining their position 
almost every moment, and at every point of difficulty or 
danger. 

THE PILOTS OF LIVERPOOL. 

A matter of no less importance to the security of ships 
entering the port, is the creating and preserving of an 
efficient body of pilots, thoroughly acquainted with the 
approaches, and capable of guiding ships through them 
by night and by day, and in storm as well as calm. Such 
a body has now existed for upwards of eighty years, and 
has acquired the highest reputation for skill, in the per- 
formance of its arduous and dangerous duties. 

The Mersey Docks and Harbour Act of 1858, (section 
118) provides that the board created by that act shall have 
the whole and sole regulation and management of pilots, 
and of pilot boats, in the port of Liverpool. 

The committee to be appointed by the board for that 
purpose, is to consist of not less than twelve persons, and 



44 

is to be called " The Pilotage Committee." Of this com- 
mittee, so appointed, one-third of the members is to be 
composed of persons familiar with the duties and qualifica- 
tions of pilots, not being members of the Mersey Docks and 
Harbour Board. This committee is to be appointed in the 
month of January, in every year. The pilotage committee 
is to be deemed a committee of the Mersey Docks and 
Harbour Board. 

With regard to the mode of appointing pilots, and their 
qualifications, the act provides (section 120) that all per- 
sons holding licenses as pilots, at the commencement of this 
act, shall be deemed to be licensed by the Board ; and that, 
for the future, the Board shall examine and grant licenses 
as pilots, to any persons, being of the age of eighteen years 
or upwards, who have served as apprentices, in any of the 
Liverpool pilot boats, for not less than three years, and who 
shall offer themselves, with the consent of their masters, to 
be admitted as pilots. The Board may also, if they shall 
deem it expedient to do so, but not otherwise, examine any 
other person, not having so served, who shall be desirous to 
act as a pilot. Every such apprentice, or other person, who 
upon any such examination shall be found by the Board 
to be qualified to act as a pilot, is to receive a license in 
writing, signed by the secretary of the Board, certifying 
that he is duly qualified to act as a pilot for the port of 
Liverpool ; which license is also to set forth the name, age, 
stature, complexion, and place of abode, of the person s( 
licensed. 

Persons acting as pilots without a license are, by this 
Act, to forfeit twenty pounds for every such offence (sectioi 
123) ; and pilots refusing to take charge of any inward- 



45 

bound vessel, upon a proper signal being made for a pilot, 
or of any outward-bound vessel, upon the request of the mas- 
ter, or in any manner failing in or neglecting their duty as 
pilots, are liable to have their licenses recalled, declared 
void, or suspended by the Board ; and if they act as pilots 
after this they are liable to the same penalties as if they 
were not pilots (section 124). 

The distances to which vessels are to be piloted if re- 
quired to be, are as follows (section 127) :— Every pilot 
taking upon himself the charge of any vessel, if so 
required by the master, is to pilot such vessel, if sailing- 
out of the port through the Queen's Channel, so far to the 
westward as the buoy commonly called or known by the 
name of the Formby Northwest Buoy, or Fairway Buoy, 
of the Queen's Channel ; and if sailing through the Kock 
Channel, to pilot the vessel so far to the westward, as the 
Northwest Buoy of Hoyle. 

In order that pilots may have the strongest inducement 
to be on the look-out for vessels, before they reach the 
dangerous part of the approaches to the port, it is pro- 
vided, by this Act (section 135), that if any vessel inward 
bound shall not have met with a pilot before the House 
and Telegraph Station, on Great Hilbre Island, shall bear 
south- south-west, by the compass, or shall be piloted from 
the road of Hoylake only, there shall be paid for such 
vessel one half only of the rates authorised to be taken for 
piloting such vessel from any point short of the distance of 
the Great Ormshead ; and that if no pilot shall board, or 
offer his services, before such vessel shall have passed the 
Brazil Buoy, in the Bock Channel, or the Crosby Lightship, 
in Formby Channel, then the pilotage payable in respect of 



46 

such vessel, shall be fixed at the discretion of the Mersey 
Docks and Harbour Board, (section 135). 

All pilot boats, as well as pilots, are required to be 
licensed by the board ; such license to continue in force so 
long as the ownership of the boats shall continue the same 
as when the license was granted, provided the owners shall 
continue capable of holding such boat, under the provisions 
of this act, and provided also, that such boat shall be kept 
in good repair, and properly fitted out (section 150). Any 
pilot using an unlicensed boat is liable (section 155) to a 
penalty of three guineas for every day, or portion of a day, 
on which he shall use it, and is also liable to have his 
license suspended, or forfeited, by the Board. 

It appears from a parliamentary return, on the subject 
of " Pilotage," laid before the House of Commons, and 
ordered to be printed on the 12th April, 1858 (No. 174), 
that the total number of persons engaged in the arduous 
and dangerous occupation of pilotage in the port of Liver- 
pool was 306, at the date of that return. Of this number 
36 were master pilots, 163 were journeymen pilots, 54 were 
licensed apprentices, and 53 unlicensed apprentices. The 
pilot boats were twelve in number, and were thus officered 
and manned : 

Pilot boat No. 1 had three master pilots — William 
Hughes, Kobert Taggart, and Edward F. Callister, and 
thirteen journeymen pilots, all of whom, both masters and 
journeymen, were licensed to pilot vessels of any size. She 
had also two apprentices, licensed to pilot vessels not 
exceeding 500 tons; four apprentices, licensed to pilot 
vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and three apprentices, not 
vet licensed. 



47 

Pilot boat No. 2 had three master pilots — Joseph Powell, 
John Corrin, and Samuel Jones, and fourteen journeymen, 
all licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; two apprentices, 
licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 tons ; four, to 
pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and four unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 3 had three master pilots — John Williams, 
Thomas Parry, and John Sawell, and fourteen journeymen, 
all licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; four apprentices, 
licensed to pilot vessels of 200 tons, and four apprentices 
not yet licensed. 

Pilot boat No. 4 had three masters — John Shepherd, 
Charles Christie, and John J. Ellison, and fourteen journey- 
men, all licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; one apprentice, 
licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 tons; three, 
licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and five 
unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 5 had three master pilots — Isaac Williams, 
Hugh Jones, and Peter Dickenson, and fourteen journeymen, 
of whom thirteen were licensed to pilot vessels of any size, 
and one to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 tons ; also one 
apprentice, licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 tons ; 
one to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and four un- 
licensed. 

Pilot boat No. 6 had three master pilots — Thos. Parry, 
Thomas Davies, and Thomas Hudson, and fourteen journey- 
men pilots, all licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; two 
apprentices, authorised to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 
tons ; two to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and five 
unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 7 had three master pilots — William 
Rowlands, Thomas Thompson, and John Williams, and six- 



48 

teen journeymen pilots, licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; 
one journeyman, and one apprentice, licensed to pilot 
vessels not exceeding 500 tons ; four apprentices, licensed 
to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and four unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 8 had three master pilots — John Bark, 
John Blackley, and W. J. M'Cracken, and thirteen journey- 
men pilots, licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; two 
apprentices, licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 tons ; 
two, licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and 
five unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 9 had three master pilots — Thomas 
Crane, William Lancaster, and John Pritchard, and thirteen 
journeymen pilots, all, except two, licensed to pilot vessels 
of any size, and they licensed respectively to pilot vessels 
not exceeding 500 tons and 200 tons; one apprentice, 
licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 tons ; three, to 
pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and five unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 10 had three master pilots — Jas. Wilson, 
Hugh Williams, and William Parry, and thirteen jour- 
neymen pilots; two apprentices, licensed to pilot vessels 
not exceeding 500 tons ; four, to pilot vessels not exceeding 
200 tons ; and four unlicensed. 

Pilot boat No. 1 1 had three master pilots — Kichard Parry, 
Robert Williams, and William Harris, and thirteen journey- 
men pilots, authorised to pilot vessels of any size ; one 
apprentice, licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 300 tons ; 
three to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons ; and five 
unlicensed apprentices. 

Pilot boat No. 12 had also three master pilots — Hugh 
Woodward, Samuel Bark, and John Tunstall ; twelve 
journeymen pilots, all licensed to pilot vessels of any size ; 



49 



one apprentice, licensed to pilot vessels not exceeding 500 
tons; two, to pilot vessels not exceeding 200 tons; and 
five unlicensed. 

It will be seen, from the above statement, that after the 
ordinary duties of an apprentice are leamt, men have to 
show their ability to manage comparatively small ships, 
drawing little water, before they are permitted to pilot 
vessels of larger draft, through channels in which a mistake 
of a few yards of position, and two or three feet of depth 
of water, might frequently involve the loss of ship, cargo, 
and every soul on board. 

The total amount earned by the twelve pilot boats of 
Liverpool, in the year 1857, is stated in the same return to 
have been £60,964 10s. 3d., earned from 13,719 vessels. 
The pilots supply and repair their own boats, which must 
be built and furnished, to keep the sea at all times, in 
defiance of wind and storm. 

The general result of the precautions taken in lighting, 
buoying, and surveying the port, and of the skill and 
boldness with which the pilots discharge their duties, is 
best seen, from the security with which the multitudes of 
vessels engaged in the commerce of the port, pass in and 
out in all weathers, and by night as well as by day. The 
acting conservator, Kear- Admiral George Evans, in his 
report to the board, dated January, 1858, states, that 
54,288 vessels passed in and out of the port of Liverpool 
during the year 1857, and that, "owing to the skill and 
meritorious conduct of the Liverpool pilots, this prodigious 
number of vessels (averaging 148 per diem) was safely 
conducted through the channels and quicksands of the 
port, with the loss of only one vessel, under their charge." 

E 



50 

It appeai-s, from a paper laid before both Houses of 
Parliament last session, by command of her Majesty, and 
entitled " An Abstract of the Eeturns, made to the Lords of 
the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, of Wrecks and 
Casualties, which occurred on and near the Coasts of the 
United Kingdom, from the 1st of January to the 31st 
December, 1857," and also for the two preceding years, 
(Table 16) that the number of vessels lost by striking on 
rocks and sands, on the coasts, of Great Britain in the year 
1855, was 105, of which two were lost on the Burbo Banks 
and three on the East and West Hoyle Banks, at the 
entrance of the Port of Liverpool; that in 1850, 115 
vessels were lost, of which two were lost on the Burbo, and 
four on the Hoyle Banks; and that in 1857, 161 vessels 
were lost, of which only one was lost on the Burbo, and not 
even one on the Hoyle. We may add that in the year 
1858, no vessel of any importance was lost on those 
formidable banks, or rather ranges of banks, which extend 
quite across the entrance of the Bay of Liverpool. 

THE LIFEBOATS. 

Admiral Evans, in his last report, states "that the crews 
of the Liverpool lifeboats, during the year 1857, with their 
usual intrepidity, assisted twenty-two vessels in distress, and 
saved the lives of forty persons." 

The arrangements with regard to the lifeboat service of 
the Port of Liverpool are as follows. 

Approaching the port from the south, the first lifeboat 
station is at the point of Ayr, on the Welsh side of the 
River Dee. It is directly opposite to the West Hoyle 



51 



Bank, an enormous bank of sand, which dries 22 feet at 
low water, and round which wind the dangerous passages 
that lead into the estuary of the Dee. This is one of 
the most dangerous points on the coast, and here the 
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board maintain two lifeboats, 
and retain the boldest seamen of the neighbourhood, to 
render assistance, to the crews and passengers of vessels, 
driven on the banks or drawn into the shallows. This 
duty is nobly performed, too often at the risk, and even 
with the loss, of the lives of the brave fellows who man 
the boats. Such was the case on the 4th January, 1857, 
when the whole crew of the Point of Ayr lifeboat perished, 
in attempting to save the crew of a stranded vessel. The 
following item, in the last Annual Account of the Mersey 
Docks and Harbour Board appears in the Conservancy 
Department. " Donation, for the Belief of the Widows 
and Children of the Crew of the Point of Ayr Lifeboat, 
who were unfortunately drowned on the 4th January, 1857, 
,£500." And it is satisfactory to add, that this only formed 
part of a liberal subscription, raised by the benevolence of 
the merchants and other inhabitants of Liverpool, which 
altogether produced some thousand pounds, for the relief of 
the widows and children of the men who had lost their lives 
in the performance of so noble a duty. 

The next lifeboat station is at Hilbre Island, with 
another boat at Hoylake, opposite to the East Hoyle Bank 
and the Horse Channel. As we have mentioned, upwards of 
15,000 vessels passed through this channel in the year 1857, 
And nearly as many last year. The passage through which 
the vessels enter the Horse channel is only seven hundred 
yards wide, and the channel soon narrows to less than half 



52 

that width. The dangers, on both sides, are very great, 
hut by continued vigilance the loss both of life and 
property is very small. According to the Parliamentary 
Keturn respecting Wrecks and Casualties, already quoted, 
the number of lives lost under such circumstances, on the 
coasts of the United Kingdom, amounted to 920 in 1852; 
to 689 in 1853; to 1,549 in 1855; and to 532 in 1857, 
making the total loss of life in those years 3,690, and the 
average yearly loss 922. The loss of life from this cause 
at the entrance to the Mersey, forms a very insignificant 
portion of this number 

Four lifeboats are always ready for duty in the river 
Mersey, a precaution most necessary, in a seaport so 
crowded with shipping and full of passengers. Two of 
these are kept on the Liverpool side of the river, the other 
two at the Magazines, on the Cheshire side. All are within 
a moderate distance of the mouth of the Mersey, and are 
available, in case of accidents, occurring either within or 
outside the estuary. 

Another lifeboat is maintained, by the Board, at Formby, 
on the Lancashire coast. This is the nearest point of the 
coast to the Queen and the Victoria Channels, and to the 
old Formby Channel, as well as the present Crosby 
Channel. The whole of this coast is lined with sandbanks, 
of which the Burbo Banks are the most extensive and 
formidable. 

These five lifeboat stations are so selected as to ensure 
prompt relief along the whole shores of the port, both 
outside and within the estuary. They are upheld, and 
steam power is supplied, to tow the boats in time of need, 
at a cost, which last year amounted to <£2,871 ; a sufficient 



53 

Outlay for, the purpose, but a very small one, when it is 
•considered how much they conduce to the safety of the 
hundreds of thousands of passengers and seamen, who 
every year pass out and into the Port of Liverpool. 



THE LIVERPOOL OBSERVATORY. 

The Observatory was established in 1844, for the pur- 
pose of giving accurate time to the port. The longitude 
of a ship at sea is found by a knowledge of the error of 
the chronometer, in Greenwich time ; it is, therefore of the 
highest importance to the mariner, when leaving the Mersey 
on a long voyage, to know what his chronometer is fast or 
slow, and how much it is losing or gaining daily. At the 
meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science, at Liverpool, in 1837, it was stated, in a memorial 
to the corporation, that the inaccuracies in the Greenwich 
mean time, given in some of the principal ports in the 
kingdom, were known to be sufficient to cause the wreck 
of ships. The Observatory was established in consequence 
of these and similar representations. At that time it was 
not known that the mariner could be assisted by such 
institutions, further than by supplying him with accurate 
time ; but the experiments instituted at this Observatory 
have since shown that, in addition to giving the time, 
navigation can be greatly facilitated, and rendered more 
secure, by subjecting chronometers to a well arranged test, 
previous to their being taken to sea. The method of 
testing originated, and first practised at this Observatory, 
has been recently adopted for testing the chronometers 
E 2 



54 



employed in the royal navy, and the Liverpool Obser- 
vatory has become a sort of model establishment, for 
other seaports. In December, 1857, her Majesty, having 
decided on presenting to Prince Alfred a marine chro- 
nometer, and being desirous that it should be one of 
the highest character for performance, caused inquiry 
to be made, as to the best method of securing such an 
instrument, and the Prince Consort having been made 
acquainted with the means employed at the Liverpool 
Observatory, for testing the value of these instruments, 
caused one to be selected, from fifty-five new ones, by 
various makers, which were at that time deposited at the 
Observatory, for the purpose of being tested, previous to 
their being sold to merchant captains and shipowners. In 
addition to giving time to the port and testing chronometers, 
this Observatory has established for itself a world-wide 
reputation, in a scientific point of view. At the meeting 
of the British Association, in 1854, Professor Phillips, the 
general secretary, "congratulated the association on the 
triumph it had achieved. It was at the Liverpool meeting 
of the Association, in 1837, that the establishment of an 
Observatory was proposed, and now, on their return to 
Liverpool, they found the Observatory working, working 
well, and producing results, which, it was not too much 
to say, could not be produced from any other observatory 
in the world, and which results were at this moment of th 
highest possible importance, in correcting many of their view; 
in regard to the conditions of the atmosphere. Certainl 
at this moment there was no observatory more important 
than this. None from winch could be obtained such prac- 
tically useful and accurate results. He hoped that equally 



jh 

: 



55 

valuable observatories would be established in other ports." 
This Observatory is now under the control of the members 
of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, who have recently 
caused to be lithographed diagrams and tables of the direction 
and strength of the wind, deduced from hourly averages of 
observation, taken at the Observatory during the six years 
ending December 31, 1857. The completion of the 
electric telegraph from Holyhead, and along the line 
of docks, which is now decided upon, will afford great 
facilities for extending the practical usefulness of this 
establishment. We have a remarkable instance of the 
practicability of disseminating accurate time, where tele- 
graph wires are laid, in the Liverpool Town Hall clock, the 
movements of which have been under the control of a 
normal clock, at the Observatory, for nearly two years; and 
during that time the striking of the first blow of the hammer, 
at each hour of the day, has been much more certain, and 
quite as accurate, as the dropping a time signal ball could be 
rendered. At present this is the only turret clock in Liver- 
pool, the movements of which are so controlled as to cause 
it to keep accurate time, to a fraction of a second, through- 
out the twenty-four hours, and we believe we shall be quite 
right in saying, that there is not a single large turret clock 
in London, whatever expense may have been gone to in its 
construction, the performance of which will bear the 
slightest comparison, in point of accuracy, with the per- 
formance of the old turret clock, on the top of the Liverpool 
Town Hall, since it has been under the control of the 
clock at the Observatory. 



56 



REGISTERING TIDE GAUGES. 



The rise of the tides in the Port of Liverpool is not 
merely a matter of scientific interest, but also of the 
greatest practical importance. A careful record of the 
movements of the tides, during a very long course of 
years, was kept by Lieut. Hutchinson, who was formerly 
harbour master of Liverpool; and at the present time, 
there are registers kept of the tides, both in the river 
Mersey, and at Hilbre Island, at the entrance of the river 
Dee. With regard to these, the acting conservator of 
the port, Eear- Admiral Evans, observes : 

" The self-registering tide gauges established at Hilbre 
Island and George's Pierhead, in 1855, are well attended 
to by Lieut. Murray T. Parks, E. N., the marine surveyor 
of the port, who has made some improvement in the details 
of the arrangements, which no doubt will, in a few years, 
■afford valuable data for accurate general purposes." 

The following information with regard to the tides of 
the Mersey, and of the bay of Liverpool, is taken from the 
charts of the Marine Surveyor, and from the report of Mr. 
James Walker, and Mr. John B. Hartley, on the river 
Mersey. 

In the narrowest part of the river Mersey, between 
Prince's Dock and Seacombe, the equinoctial spring tides 
rise to the height of 3 3 J- feet ; ordinary spring tides rise to 
the height of 29 feet (above the same level) ; and neaps 
rise to the height of 23 feet, also above that level. 

The height of the tides in the river Mersey is usually 
computed, for practical purposes, from a fixed point, 
known as the datum of the Old Dock Sill, that is, 



57 



the level of the sill leading from the river into the Old 
Dock. This datum, or standard of measurement, was fixed 
about the year 1720, when the Old Dock was opened; and 
at the time when the Old Dock was filled up, the level of 
the Old Dock Sill was marked, on a tide gauge, which is 
still preserved, on the west side of the centre pier of the 
Canning Half-tide Dock. This point or datum is 8 feet 9 
inches, above the low water level of average spring tides. 

The maximum velocity attained by the tides, unassisted 
by the wind, in the narrowest part of the river, between 
Prince's Dock and Seacombe, is, at neap tides, 4 J miles 
an hour, and at spring tides 6f miles an hour. The average 
velocity of the highest tides at this point is 5j miles, 
and of ordinary springs 4j miles. 

The speed of the flow of the tide increases rapidly, as it 
ascends from the open sea to the Seacombe narrows. At 
the North- West Lightship, 14 miles from St. George's 
Pierhead, and in the open sea, it flows, in spring tides, at 
the rate of three-quarters of a mile the first hour, one and 
a-half miles the second hour, two and three-quarters miles 
the third hour, two miles the fourth hour, one mile the 
fifth hour, and half a mile the sixth hour. Opposite the 
Kock Lighthouse, at the entrance of the river, the tide 
flows at the average rate of four miles an hour ; and at the 
narrows at Seacombe (as already mentioned), it flows at 
the rate of five and a half miles an hour. Above that 
point the estuary widens, and the speed of the tide 
decreases. 

In the survey of the river Mersey, in the year 1857, 
Mr. Wright, who took the depths of the river, fixed level 
tide guages, at New Brighton, Egremont, Seacombe, Tran- 



58 



mere, Eock Ferry, and Eastham Ferry, from which he 
found that at Eock Ferry, the water in spring tides, rose 
one foot higher than the same tides at Egremont, and that 
the difference of the time of high water was ten minutes. 
At Eastham there was an additional rise of three inches, 
making altogether fifteen inches between Egremont and 
Eastham. 

Mr. John B. Hartley found also, that the tides rise 20 
inches higher at Euncorn than at Liverpool. Of this 
quantity 14 inches was between Eastham Ferry and Eun- 
corn; but as the levels, fixed along the shore by Mr. 
Wright, were not carried higher than Eastham Ferry, the 
correctness of the result depends, as respects Euncorn, on 
the heights given by the Ordnance surveyors. Supposing 
these to be correct, we must add 14 inches of rise between 
Eastham and Euncorn, to the 15 inches shown to exist 
between Egremont and Eastham. This would give 29 
inches, or nearly 2j feet, as the additional rise of tide at 
Euncorn, above the level of the same tide at Egremont. 
The difference of time of high water, at Euncorn and 
Liverpool, was found to be from 40 to 50 minutes. 



THE TELEGRAPH ALONG THE COAST FROM LIVERPOOL TO 
HOLYHEAD. 

The Liverpool Dock Trustees established a semaphoi 
telegraph in the year 1827, from Liverpool, along 
rocky headlands of Wales, to Holyhead, in the Isle of An- 
glesey, for the purpose of securing the earliest information, 
as to the approach of vessels to the port, the latest, as 






59 

to vessels leaving it, and the most complete information as 
to their progress, along a coast of rocks, sands, and 
Storms, without a single harbour of refuge. The power of 
electricity, which was entirely unknown, as a means of con- 
veying information, at the time when this telegraph was 
erected, is about to be applied to it, it being often desirable 
to convey information, along the whole line, or to and from 
different points on the line, in thick weather, and occasion- 
ally at night, when the semaphore cannot be used. 

The following are the present stations of the telegraph : 
1st. In Liverpool, a lofty tower, in Tower-buildings, 
near to the river ; 2nd, Bidston Hill, in Cheshire, at a 
height of about 240 feet above the level of the Mersey ; 
3rd, Hilbre Island, a rocky islet, at the entrance of the 
river Dee ; 4th, Yoel Nant, on the sea front of the 
Flintshire mountains; 5th, Llysfaen, another promontory, on 
the coast of Denbighshire ; 6th, the Great Ormshead, one 
of the most magnificent and conspicuous rocks on the 
shores of North Wales ; 7th, Puffin Island, at the entrance 
of the Menai Straits ; 8th, Cefh Du, the first great pro- 
montory of Anglesey ; 9th, Point Lynas, another promon- 
tory, on the same island, at which the Liverpool Dock 
Trust have long maintained, and the Mersey Dock and 
Harbour Board now maintain, a lighthouse, to warn vessels 
of the perils of this "iron bound" coast; and 10th, 
Holyhead. By means of this swift line of communication, 
the approach of vessels is known on the Exchange at Liver- 
pool, many hours before they reach the port ; the com- 
manders of vessels, are informed of the force and direction 
of the winds, in the open sea, before they leave their 
anchorage in the river; and the crews of vessels, exposed to 



60 

the perils of the dangerous coast of Wales, are ensured 
relief, from life boats and steamers, at the earliest moment,, 
that the signal of " a ship in danger," is conveyed along 
the line. 

In addition to the means above described, for securing 
the safety of vessels, in entering and leaving the harbour 
of Liverpool, the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board assist 
in securing, to the captains of vessels which frequent the 
port, not only correct time, for the regulation of their 
chronometer, but an easy method of testing the correctness 
of the ships' compass. 



RUNDELLS COMPASS BEARINGS. 

Every one who has visited the Mersey, or crossed its 
numerous ferries, since 1856, must have observed the large 
figures and marks so conspicuously painted on the dock 
walls, facing the river. Few persons, however, even arnong* 
those resident in Liverpool, unless they are immediately 
interested in nautical affairs, have any clear idea of the use 
to which these marks are applied. Each of them repre- 
sents a particular magnetic bearing of a very tall chimney, 
situated near the Yauxhall-road, and which forms a promi- 
nent object from all parts of the river; so that wherever a 
ship may lie, her master, by looking towards this chimney, 
and observing the mark on the dock wall which appeal 
nearest its base, is at once aware of its correct magnetic 
bearing, and has thus a test, by which to judge of the 
correctness of the compass used for steering his vessel. 
Now that iron is so much used in the construction of ships, 



61 

and is so frequently carried as cargo, this is a matter of 
growing importance. The increased speed attained by 
modern ships also tends to direct attention, to what would 
formerly have been considered as only small errors in this 
instrument. 

When the iron in a ship is suspected to influence her 
compass, the usual course has been to turn the ship's head 
towards the different points of the compass, and at each to 
observe how much the north end of the needle is deflected 
to the east or west of the magnetic north, noting the 
amount, in what is termed a table of deviations ; the pro- 
cess being technically termed " swinging ship" — the correct 
magnetic directions being ascertained by azimuths of the 
sun, which involve the working of a trigonometrical problem, 
or by means of a compass placed on shore. But as 
the Liverpool docks are surrounded by so much iron, very 
little dependence can be placed on the last method, as the 
shore compass might itself be in error. 

By the use of the marks, however, these difficulties and 
uncertainties are avoided ; and as ships, when at anchor in 
the river, turn with the tide every six hours, their masters 
nave constant opportunities of ascertaining the deviations 
of their compasses, on as many points as they may think 
necessary. The whole process is, in fact, made so simple, 
that it is now a matter of surprise that it was not intro- 
duced before. 

These marks were suggested by, and painted under, the 
direction of Mr. W. W. Bundell, secretary to the Liverpool 
Compass Committee, a company of gentlemen deputed from 
the various scientific and mercantile associations of the 
neighbourhood, to investigate the subject of compass devia- 

F 



62 



tion, more especially as it affects ships wholly built of iron. 
As connected with the history of the navigation of Liver- 
pool, it may be mentioned, that two reports of this com- 
mittee have already been made to the Board of Trade, and 
presented to Parliament, in the shape of a blue book, which 
have been highly commended by the astronomer royal. 



THE DOCKS OF THE RIVER MERSEY. 

The docks of Liverpool, in their existing form, are 
entirely the work of the present age. It is true that the 
corporation, the merchants, and the shipowners of Liver- 
pool began to construct docks nearly a hundred and fifty 
years ago, and that they have been employed, in successive 
generations, in constructing docks ever since ; but the 
docks, as they now stand, have been constructed or entirely 
remodelled during the last thirty years. When the present 
dock engineer, Mr. Hartley, was appointed to office, in the 
year 1824, the water space of the Liverpool docks only 
covered an area of 5 Of acres. Since that time, the arrange- 
ment of that water space has been greatly changed, and all 
the then existing docks have been reconstructed, with the 
single exception of the Prince's Dock, which was first 
opened to commerce, on the coronation of George IV., in 
the year 1821. Between the years 1824 and 1843 the 
water space of the docks was increased from 50J acres to 
96J- acres: and between the years 1843 and 1859, it was 
increased from 96 J acres to 212J- acres of docks, and 23 
acres and 2034 yards of dock basins. The first Birkenhead 
Dock Act was passed in the year 1844, and the first of the 



63 

Birkenhead docks, named the Morpeth Dock, was opened 
by the present Earl of Carlisle, then Lord Morpeth, and 
Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, on the 23rd of 
March, 1847. Since that time the Egerton Dock, and a 
portion of the Great Float, have also been opened, but 
these are now in course of entire reconstruction. When 
completed they will add 158 acres of water space to the 
236 acres already existing at Liverpool, and will raise 
the total quantity of water space, in the Docks of the 
Mersey, to nearly 400 acres. This is eight times the size 
to which it had extended, between the year 1709 (when the 
Liverpool docks were commenced) and the year 1824. A 
dock of four acres, large enough to receive 100 small vessels, 
and yielding a revenue of £600 a-year, was the germ, from 
which the present docks and dock estate of the Eiver 
Mersey have sprung. 

The object of the recent rapid increase of these docks, 
has been to meet the wants of a commerce and shipping, 
increasing with equal if not greater rapidity; and in 
remodelling the old docks, and constructing new ones, every 
effort has been made to adapt them to the present wants of 
trade and navigation. 



THE SEA WALL OF THE DOCKS. 

In a port situated in a wide estuary, and within two or 
three miles of the open sea, it has been necessary, in con- 
structing docks, to provide both for the safety of shipping 
from storms, whilst in port, and for its accommodation, in 
discharging and receiving cargoes, and repairing injury. 



64 

The sea wall along the Liverpool side of the Mersey, by 
which the shipping, in the long line of docks, is protected 
from the violence of winds and storms, is one of the 
greatest works of the present, or of any age. It was 
necessary that this wall should be long enough to protect the 
whole line of docks ; that the foundations should be sunk to 
such a depth, as to resist the undermining influence of the 
stream; that it should be strong enough to resist the violence 
of the greatest storms ; and that it should be sufficiently 
lofty to beat off the highest waves ; and all these objects 
have been attained. The present length of this sea wall is 
9,700 yards, or upwards of five miles ; its average thick- 
ness is 1 1 feet ; its average height from the foundations is 
40 feet. The older part of the sea wall is formed of red 
sandstone, but the modern is faced on the upper part with 
Scottish granite. The mortar is formed from the lime of 
the Halkin Mountain, in North Wales. 

In erecting the sea wall, in front of the Liverpool 
docks, great difficulties had to be overcome, in obtaining a 
solid foundation. The foundation in front of the Prince's. 
Dock, in the narrowest part of the river, and that in which 
the currents are strongest, had to be laid on great balks of 
timber, sunk to a depth which could be reached only twice 
in the year, and then only for a few days, namely, at the 
vernal and the autumnal equinoxes, when the tides ebb to 
the lowest point of the whole year. At one of those 
periods, in the month of March, 1817, the low water 
workings were entirely prevented by the tempestuousness 
of the weather, and nothing could be done, at that part of 
the foundation, until the end of September and the begin- 
ning of October. Fortunately, the weather was favourable 



65 

at that time, and six courses of balks were laid, extending 
105 yards in length. It was thus that a foundation was 
slowly gained, which has since defied the violence of storms, 
and the constant action of the most rapid currents. Similar 
difficulties were met with in obtaining a solid foundation, at 
other points. At the river entrance of the George's Basin 
it was necessary to form a foundation, by driving piles, to a 
great depth, through a quicksand. The whole of the 
river wall, in front of the Albert Dock, and the piers of 
the double entrance from the river into the half-tide basin, 
are on a quicksand, and rest on 13,792 piles of beech- 
wood timber. The entrances to the Wellington Half-tide 
Dock are also built on long piles of beech timber, driven 
down into a very deep peat moss, in which the branches 
of trees, and the horns of the deer and the buffalo, have 
been found, far below the present line of low water. 

The form and direction of the Birkenhead docks are 
very different from those of Liverpool. Instead of running, 
as the Liverpool docks do, along the side of the estuary, 
they run inland, along the bed of the ancient Pool of Wal- 
lasey. Hence their greatest length is inland, and thus a 
sea wall, of 800 yards in length, closes up the former 
mouth of the pool, and protects them from the violence of 
the sea. 

THE FORMATION OF THE DOCKS. 

The docks built under the shelter of these great ram- 
parts extend, on the Liverpool side of the Mersey, five 
miles in length, running from north to south ; and those on 
the Birkenhead side extend two miles and a half inland, 
F2 



66 

running from east to west. As already stated, they will 
together contain, when the Birkenhead works are com- 
pleted, nearly 400 acres of water space. On the Liverpool 
side of the river, the docks between Prince's Dock Basin 
and the northern boundary of the Clarence Graving Docks 
are principally formed out of rock, consisting of various 
qualities of the new red sandstone, but some portions are 
on quicksand. The east wall of the Canning Dock, the 
whole of the wall of Salthouse Dock, and King's Dock, are 
dug in, and founded upon, rock. The Albert Dock and 
Warehouses, and the Canning Half-tide Dock, are founded 
partly on rock and partly on marl. The Wellington Dock, 
the Half-tide Dock, the Sandon Dock and Basin, and the 
six Graving Docks, connected with it, are founded on marl, 
interspersed with deep and extensive spaces of sand. 

The Birkenhead Great Float and Docks are to some 
extent sunk in and founded on marl ; but silt, mud, and 
quicksand are the predominant features of the foundations, 
being in the bed, or on the banks of Wallasey Pool : and 
it may give some notion of the extent of the excavations, 
to mention, that upwards of two million cubic yards of 
marl have already been dug and wheeled out of the Great 
Float alone, since the Birkenhead estate was transferred to 
the Corporation, independent of what had been dug out 
before, and of the large quantity which has yet to be 
removed from other parts of the works. 



THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF THE QUAYS. 

The depth of the docks, both on the Liverpool and the 
Birkenhead sides of the Mersey is 35 feet. The length of 



67 



the inner walls of the Liverpool Docks is 17 miles; their 
thickness is, on the average, 1 feet ; their height, on the- 
average, 40 feet. The length of the inner walls of the 
docks at Birkenhead will be 5 J- miles, their thickness 10 
feet, and their height 40. The total length of the inner 
walls of the docks, on both sides of the river, will thus be 
22 J miles, and of outer and inner walls together 27 miles. 

The objects in constructing the docks of Liverpool, as 
well as those now forming at Birkenhead, were two-fold. The 
first was to form an artificial harbour, free from the storms 
which prevail in the estuary of the Mersey ; the second was 
to provide, as far as possible, an unchanging water line for 
loading and unloading vessels, in the place of the incessantly 
changing lines supplied by nature, in an estuary in which 
the level changes four times a day, between low water and 
high water, and sometimes 33 feet in vertical height. In 
harbours in which the rise and fall of the tide is not more 
than five or six feet, as for instance that of New York, such 
costly docks as those which have been constructed in the 
river Mersey are unnecessary. In them mere piers or 
wharfs of wood or stone, built on the edge of the water, 
answer all necessary purposes. But in rivers or estuaries,, 
like the Mersey, in which the tide retires far from the shore 
at low water, and spreads far and wide over it at high water, 
it is impossible to load or unload large vessels with facility, 
cheapness, and despatch, without forming enclosed docks, 
to preserve at all times an uniform, or nearly uniform, water- 
level. 

The security of shipping and a steady water line 
having been provided for, the next object was to furnish 
a sufficient length of quay frontage, for the loading 



68 

and unloading of vessels, and the erecting of warehouses, 
cranes, and other apparatus for that purpose. On the Liver- 
pool side of the river, the aggregate length of the quay- 
frontage of all the docks is 16 miles and 1,732 yards. That 
on the Birkenhead side, when completed, will be five miles 
and 786 yards. The quays on the Liverpool side of the 
river, cover 220 acres of ground, in addition to which there 
are about 300 acres of land belonging to the Dock Estate, 
87 acres of which are let on rent, and 223 acres unappro- 
priated, a large portion of the latter being on the North 
Shore. At Birkenhead there are 285 acres of land, which 
may be used, either as quay space, or may be appropriated 
to trading purposes. 



NUMBER AND MAGNITUDE OF THE DOCK GATES, AND 
INCREASE IN THE SIZE OF SHIPS. 

In building and forming the docks on the Liverpool 
side of the river, upwards of eighty pairs of dock gates 
have been put up during the last thirty years. These dock 
gates have been made wider and wider, until they have at 
length reached the enormous and unparalleled width of 
100 feet. 

The width of the gates at the entrance of the Prince's, 
Dock, which was opened in the year 1821, was 45 feet„ 
and that was quite wide enough for the vessels then in use,, 
few of which were of greater burthen than 500 to 600 tons. 
Since that time the average size of the vessels frequenting 
the Port of Liverpool, has more than doubled, and in some 
cases, has increased five or six-fold. At the present 



69 

time the average size of the vessels frequenting the Port of 
Liverpool, is twice as great as that of those which frequent 
the Port of London. The first of these facts is evident 
from the circumstance, that in the year 1824, 10,008 
vessels, which entered the Port of Liverpool that year, were 
only of the aggegate burthen of 1,180,914 tons, whilst in 
1856, 20,886 vessels, which entered the port that year, 
were of the aggregate burthen of 4,320,618 tons. Thus, 
whilst the number of ships doubled, the tonnage of those 
ships increased four-fold. The second fact is evident from 
the circumstance mentioned in the " Annual Statement of 
Trade and Navigation," for the year 1857, that the 18,605 
vessels, entered and cleared at the Port of London, in the 
foreign and colonial trade, were of the burthen of 4,977,991 
tons, whilst the 8,531 which entered and cleared at Liver- 
pool, in the same trades, were of the aggregate burthen of 
4,935,870 tons. Liverpool is in fact the great resort of 
ships which traverse the ocean, as distinguished from those 
which trade in the narrow seas ; and hence sailing ships of 
1,000 to 1,500 tons, and steamers of 2,000 to 3,000 and 
even 3,500 tons, frequent the Mersey regularly, and re- 
quire to be accommodated, in discharging, loading, and 
repairing. 

To receive these stupendous vessels for the ordinary 
purposes of trade, and to repair them when injured, the 
entrances and gates of the docks and graving docks, used 
by them, have been widened, to considerably more than 
twice the width of the entrance into the Prince's Dock, 
which was formerly the widest entrance into any of the 
Liverpool Docks. The Britannia, the first of the British and 
North American mail steamers, started from Liverpool, for 



70 

Halifax, on her first voyage across the Atlantic, on the 4th 
July, 1840, and in the course of the same year, the Coburg 
Dock was opened, with a river entrance of 70 feet 1 inch. 
Since that time the steamers of that and of other hues 
have doubled, and in some cases trebled, in size, for the 
Britannia, the Acadia, the Caledonia, and the Columbia,, 
were originally advertised as " The British and North 
American Royal Mail Steamers, of 1200 tons and 440- 
horse-power each." As the size of these and other 
similar vessels has increased, the width of the entrances 
into the docks has been increased to receive them. The 
entrance into the Huskisson Dock, which is 80 feet wide, 
was formed to accommodate paddle-wheel steamers, having 
a width of 75 feet over all ; and now vessels of even greater 
size requiring a width of 100 feet will be able to enter from 
the river, through the CanadaBasin and Lock into the Canada 
Dock, by means of gates and passages of that extraordinary 
width. On the Birkenhead side of the river, the new 
entrance into the enlarged Morpeth Dock, will be through 
gates and a passage 85 feet wide, and the main entrance 
into the Great Float, will be through gates and passages 
100 feet wide. 



DEPTH OF WATER AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE DOCKS. 

It has been found less difficult to increase the width of 
the entrances into the docks, than to increase the depth of 
water at those entrances. The former of these objects 
depends on engineering and mechanical skill, the latter 
depends on the action of the tides, the currents, and the 
floating silt of the Mersey, which defy human control. 



71 

When the Old Dock was formed, in the reign of Queen 
Anne, the sill or base of the dock gates, at its entrance, 
was sunk as low as was at all necessary, at a time when the 
average size of all the vessels belonging to Liverpool was 
100 tons, and when a vessel of 250 tons was thought large. 
This point, already described as " the Datum of the Old 
Dock Sill," is about 8 feet 9 inches above the level of low 
water of average spring tides. As the size and draft of water 
of the vessels frequenting the port has increased, the sills 
or entrances of the docks have been sunk lower and lower. 
Thus, the sill of the Prince's Dock, opened in 1821, is 5 
feet 11 inches below the datum of the Old Dock sill ; that 
of the Waterloo Dock, opened in 1834, is 6 feet 5 inches; 
that of the Salisbury Dock, opened in 1848, is 6 feet 11 
inches ; and that of the Canada Lock, leading into the 
Canada Dock, from the Canada Basin, which basin is to 
be opened in the spring of the present year, is 7 feet 9 
inches. This is within a foot of the low water level of 
ordinary spring tides. The reason why the sills of some, 
at least, of these docks have not been sunk lower, is 
because it has been found that when they are sunk below 
a certain point the sand and silt collect in them, and also 
because of the sand bank, in front of the entrances, which 
is beyond control, and would render lower sills useless. 

One of the principal grounds, both with parliament 
and the public, for supporting the plan of constructing 
docks at Birkenhead, has been, that the promoters of the 
Birkenhead docks are of opinion, that a greater depth of 
water, by five or six feet, can be obtained at the entrances of 
the docks there, than is generally obtained on the Liverpool 
side of the Mersey. The deep water entrances into the 



72 

Birkenhead docks are to be sunk to the depth of twelve 
feet below the level of the Old Dock sill, which is four feet 
three inches below the depth of the entrance into the 
Canada Dock, and from five to six feet below the average 
depth of the entrances into the Liverpool docks. 

The following table, taken from the last chart of the 
river Mersey, published by authority, will show what is the 
average depth of water, at high water times, of spring and 
of neap tides, into each of the docks on the Liverpool side 
of the river, from the Huskisson Dock, at the north, to the 
Toxteth Dock, at the south. It will be seen that the 
maximum depth is that at the entrance of the Salisbury 
Dock, which is sunk six feet, eleven inches, below the datum 
of the Old Dock sill, and has an average depth of water, 
over its sill, of twenty- five feet two inches, at high water of 
ordinary spring tides, and at neap tides of eighteen feet 
two inches. The entrance to the Canada 500 feet lock, 
through 100 feet gates, is to be sunk nearly one foot lower 
than that of the Salisbury Dock ; that is, to the depth of 
seven feet nine inches below the datum of the Old Dock sill, 
and the deep water entrances into the Birkenhead docks 
are to be sunk upwards of five feet lower, or twelve feet 
below the level of the Old Dock sill. If these additional 
depths should be maintained, there will be nearly a foot 
more water at the entrance of the Canada Dock, than there 
is at the entrance of the Salisbury Dock, and upwards 
of four feet more at the entrance of the Birkenhead Dock, 
than at the entrance of any dock at the Liverpool side of 
the river. 

The great Low- water Basin at Birkenhead is to be sunk 
SO feet 9 inches below the level of the Old Dock sill. 



73 



Average Water over the principal Dock Sills at High Water times. 



Name of Dock. 



Ordinary 
Spring. 



Neaps. 



Huskisson Dock 

Sandon ditto 

Wellington ditto 

Bramley Moore ditto 

Nelson Dock, south gates ... 

Stanley ditto 

Collingwood ditto 

Salisbury ditto 

Clarence ditto 

Clarence Half-Tide ditto, river entrance 

Trafalgar Dock , 

Victoria ditto 

Waterloo ditto 

Waterloo lock 

Prince's dock 

George's ditto 

Canning ditto 

Albert ditto 

Salthouse ditto 

King's Dock 

Queen's ditto, north gate 

Queen's ditto, south gate 

Coburg Dock 

Brunswick ditto 

Ditto half-tide basin 

Toxteth Dock 



24 
24 
24 
24 
24 
23 
25 
25 
21 
23 
23 
23 
23 
24 
24 
22 
24 
24 
24 
23 
20 
21 
23 
22 
24 
23 



9 
3 
3 
9 
11 

2 
5 
9 
2 
2 
2 
8 
2 
9 
6 
3 
3 
3 

5 
3 
9 
3 
3 



17 
17 
17 
17 
17 
16 
18 
18 
14 
1G 
1G 
16 
16 
17 
17 
15 
17 
17 
17 
16 
13 
14 
16 
15 
17 
1G 



9 
9 
3 
3 
9 
11 

2 
5 
9 
2 
2 
2 
8 
2 
9 
6 
3 



THE GRAVING DOCKS. 



The graving docks, for the repairing of ships, have 
been increased in magnitude in the same proportion as the 
wet docks of the port. The width of the entrance to the 
Canning Graving Dock is 35 feet 9 inches. The width of 
the entrances into the Brunswick Graving Docks, and into 
one of the Queen's Graving Docks, is 42 feet. The width 
of the entrances into three of the Clarence Graving Docks 
is 45 feet. But it was necessary to provide graving docks 
for the largest class of steamers, of 60, 70, 80, 90, 

G 



74 

and nearly 100 feet of breadth, across the vessel and 
paddle-boxes. For this purpose the entrance of the 
Sandon Graving Dock was made 60 feet wide, and those of 
one of the Sandon Graving Docks, and one of the Queen's,. 
70 feet wide. Even this was not sufficiently spacious,, 
and, to meet the requirements of still larger vessels, the 
Huskisson Lock and Graving Dock was built with gates SO 
feet wide ; and now the Canada Lock and Graving Lock has; 
been erected with entrances 100 feet wide, and a length of 1 67 
yards, or 501 feet, at the bottom of the dock. The length 
of all the Sandon Graving Docks is 180 yards, or 520 feet. 
These works are formed of granite, and are amongst the 
noblest structures in the port. 



THE LANDING SHEDS AND DOCK WAREHOUSES. 

The quays of the Liverpool docks now cover 220 acres 
of ground, and all the docks, except those used for the 
timber trade, are surrounded by large landing sheds. 
They generally rest on iron columns ; they are all strongly 
roofed ; and are built up with brickwork at the outsides. 
The landing shed between the Wapping and the King's 
Docks is 90 feet wide, 575 feet long, and covered by an 
immense roof, resting on iron columns. 

The dock warehouses of Liverpool cover 11 acres of 
ground, and are four stories in height above the ground 
floor. The area of the Albert warehouses is 22,000 square 
yards, that of the Wapping warehouses 6,339 square yards, 
and that of the Stanley warehouses 12,000 square yards # 
Besides having four stories above the ground floor, they 



75 

have vaults under the whole area. The area of the 
Birkenhead Dock Warehouses is 10,547 square yards. 

THE DOCK RAILWAY. 

In order to give facilities for receiving and sending off 
goods by railway, a line of dock railway has been formed 
along the docks. This railway is 7540 yards in length, 
or four miles and 500 yards. It extends from the north 
end of the Canada Dock to the extreme south end of 
the Harrington Dock, and has branch lines round the 
Toxteth Dock, into the mahogany sheds connected there- 
with, and to one end of the Brunswick Dock ; it is also 
connected with the new timber yards at the Canada Dock. 
The dock railway has a branch running through and 
under the Wapping Warehouses, and around the whole of 
the Stanley Warehouses. This railway is used entirely for 
commercial purposes, and is connected with every railway 
station in Liverpool. The arrangements with regard to the 
railway accommodation at Birkenhead will also be very 
complete. The three great railway companies, the London 
and North-western, the Great Western, and the Birken- 
head Lancashire and Cheshire, will all have stations, 
the two first having each 40,000 square yards, and the 
latter an area not yet determined, on what is called the 
South Eeserve, on the edge of the great Low-water 
Basin, and in the midst of the docks. The lines of rails 
connected with those stations, and with the Birkenhead 
Cheshire and Lancashire Bailway, are partly laid, and will 
be extended, as the works are completed, all round the 
docks and floats. 



76 



THE HIGH-LEVEL RAILWAY. 

To facilitate the shipping of the coal brought from 
the great Wigan coal-field, a high level railway has been 
formed, to save time and money in shipping that bulky and 
low-priced article, which will not bear the cost of much 
labour. This line is connected with the Lancashire and 
Yorkshire Eailway, which runs through the middle of the 
Wigan coal-field. It joins that line at Sandhills-lane 
Bridge, near Liverpool, crosses the Eegent-road by a viaduct 
bridge, and runs along the north side of the Wellington 
Dock, to the south side of the Bramley-Moore Dock. The 
length of the high level railway is 1,000 lineal feet, and 
the height is eighteen feet above the level of the dock quay. 
The high-level railway is supported on wrought-iron girder 
beams of sixty feet span, twenty-five feet apart. The sides 
have arches, to form openings across the quays, under the 
railway. 

THE NEW COMMUNICATION WITH THE LEEDS AND 
LIVERPOOL CANAL. 

In order that the docks might be rendered more available 
to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, that canal has been 
connected with the Stanley Dock, by a cut, which was 
opened in the year 1848. This cut or branch is 1,400 feet 
in length, and there are in it four locks, each of eighty feet 
length of chamber, and sixteen feet and a half wide. It 
was made for canal barges only, and through it they obtain 
easy admittance, not only to the Stanley Dock, but to all 
the other docks. 



77 



THE INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS OF THE DOCKS. 

In order to unite the whole of the Liverpool docks in 
one system, an internal line of water passage has "been 
formed, from dock to dock, so that a vessel can make its 
way from one end of the docks to the other, without going 
into the river, which is always dangerous to unloaded or 
partially loaded vessels. 



THE ROADS ALONG THE DOCKS. 

A great line of road, five miles long, and seventy feet 
wide, though the greater part of its length, extends along the 
east side of the docks, from the Canada to the Harrington 
Dock, and is known in different parts as Eegent-road, 
Waterloo -road, Bath-street, New Quay, Goree, Strand- 
street, Wapping, East Side Queen's Dock, and Sefton- street. 
It is paved with large square blocks of the hardest stone, 
for no ordinary stone will resist the pressure and wear and 
tear, of the enormous weights carried along it. This road 
is connected with the principal streets of the town, espe- 
cially with Chapel-street, Water-street, Brunswick- street, 
South Castle- street, and other chief streets, leading 
to or from the line of docks, which were formed or 
widened by the Corporation of Liverpool, at the time 
when they were trustees of the Liverpool Docks, at 
a cost of nearly a million sterling. The goods stations 
of the different lines of railway, on the Lancashire side of 
the river, are at the sides of this great line of road, 
namely, the north and south stations of the London and 
g2 



78 

North-western Company, and the goods station of the 
Lancashire and Yorkshire and East Lancashire Railways. 
A road, also 70 feet in width, is formed around a consider- 
able portion of the docks at Birkenhead, and is to he 
extended entirely round them. The portions of this road, 
on the opposite sides of the Great Float, will communicate, 
at the point where the East and West Floats join each 
other, by an embankment 75 feet wide, and an iron bridge 
of 100 feet span. 



THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS. 

Commencing at the northern extremity of the Liverpool 
docks, and proceeding southward, we propose to describe 
the docks in succession, showing their size, the especial 
purposes for which they were formed, or to which they have 
been applied, and the works which have been erected around 
them, for loading, landing, and despatching goods and 
produce, the amount of revenue which each dock furnishes 
to the dock estate, and the branches of trade from which 
that revenue is derived. We shall afterwards examine and 
describe the Birkenhead docks in the same manner. 



THE CANADA DOCK. 

Commencing at the north, the Canada Dock is the first in 
order, as it is also the largest dock on the Liverpool side of 
the Mersey, the one most recently opened for the reception 
.of shipping, and the most perfect in its construction. The 



79 

Canada Dock contains a water area of 17 acres and 4,043 
square yards, or, in round numbers, of 18 acres, and the 
lineal frontage of its quays is 1,272 yards. 

The Canada Dock is approached by means of three 
passages, two of them, to the south, connecting it with the 
Huskisson Dock, but the third and principal passage, to 
the north, connecting it with the Canada Dock Basin, and 
through it, with the river Mersey. The two passages lead- 
ing into the Canada Dock, from the Huskisson Dock, are 
50 and 80 feet in width. The main entrance, however, is 
through a lock, connected with the Canada Basin. This 
lock is 500 feet in length, and is furnished at both ends 
with dock gates, 100 feet in width. This is the greatest 
width of dock gate, by 20 feet, ever constructed in the port 
of Liverpool ; and it is considerably wider than any dock 
gate which exists in any other port in the United Kingdom. 
These gates are formed of a kind of timber known as 
greenheart, which grows in the forests of South America, 
chiefly on the banks of the Demerara and the neigh- 
bouring rivers. . It possesses the double advantage of sur- 
passing all other kinds of timber in tenacity and strength, 
and of being almost entirely exempt from the attacks of 
insects found in salt water, which destroy all other kinds 
of timber. These gates, although weighing many hundred 
tons, are opened and closed in two minutes, by bringing to 
bear upon them an irresistible power, supplied by hydraulic 
pressure, generated by the compression of a column of 
water, in a cylinder, erected in the tower of granite, which 
stands at the entrance of the dock. The lock which pro- 
jects into the Canada Dock, from the Canada Basin, 
is large enough to receive the largest paddle-wheel steamers 



80 

which have yet been seen in the river Mersey, such as 
the Persia, which is nearly 400 feet in length. 

The sill at the entrance of this lock is 7 feet 9 inches 
"below the sill at the entrance of the Old Dock. The Old 
Dock sill is the datum or standard, by which all depths are 
calculated in the Liverpool dock works, and is 8 feet 9 
inches above the low water level of an ordinary spring tide. 
In other words, there is a greater depth of water by 7 feet 
'9 inches at this entrance of the Canada Dock and Lock, 
than there was at the entrance of the first dock formed in 
the port of Liverpool. 

The Canada Dock has been applied to the purposes of 
two of the principal branches of the shipping and trade 
of the port ; that is to say, to the use of ocean steamers of 
the first class, and to the carrying on of the timber trade. 

The west side of the Canada Dock, being the one nearest 
to the river, with its 500 feet lock and its 100 feet gates, 
is applied to the use of ocean steamers. 

The eastern and northern sides are applied to the use 
of the timber trade, — a trade which, at Liverpool, scarcely 
yields in importance to the cotton and the corn trades. 
The land about the Canada Dock not being built upon, and 
~being the property of the dock estate, the Mersey Docks 
and Harbour Board have been able to give extensive accom- 
modation to the timber trade, which requires a large space 
of ground, to enable it to be carried on with economy and 
despatch. For this purpose the quays of the Canada 
Dock are made unusually large and wide. Outside these 
quays a road has been formed, 70 feet wide, connected 
with the road which extends the whole length of the docks; 
.and adjoining the dock railway, which runs parallel to it. 



81 

This railway communicates with the stations of the Lan- 
cashire and Yorkshire, the East Lancashire, and the London 
and North-western Kailways, indeed with all the railway 
stations in Liverpool, and hy means of it, timber once 
placed on the railway trucks, can be conveyed to all parts 
of the Kingdom. Beyond this line of road and the dock rail- 
way, a large quantity of land, containing 124,000 square 
yards, belonging to the dock estate, has been divided into 
lots, and leased for periods of fourteen years, to several of 
the leading timber houses of the port. These yards are 
now being laid out, for the purposes of the timber trade; 
and each of them is to have its branch line of rails, con- 
necting it with the dock railway, and, by means of it, with 
all the railways on the Liverpool side of the Mersey. 

The 500 feet lock of the Canada Dock can be used as 
a graving dock. Its length at the bottom is 167 yards, or 
501 feet; its width is 100 feet; its depth 35 feet 9 inches, 
and its sill is 7 feet 9 inches, under Old Dock datum. 



THE HUSKISSON DOCK. 

The Huskisson Dock is the next in order, proceeding 
southward, along the line of docks. The Huskisson Dock, 
besides being connected northwards with the Canada Dock, 
through two passages, one 50 feet and the other 80 feet 
wide, is connected southward with the Sandon Basin, by 
means of two locks. One of these locks, called " The West 
Huskisson Lock," is entered by gates 45 feet wide, and 
contains 3,650 square yards of water area, and 330 lineal 
yards of quay space; the other, named "The East Hus- 



82 



kisson Lock," is entered by gates 80 feet wide, and contains 
4,682 square yards of water space, and 342 lineal yards of 
quay space. 

The Huskisson East Lock is also applicable as a graving 
dock. Its width is 80 feet; its length along the bottom 
132 yards, or 396 feet; its depth is 44 feet 6 inches. The 
sill of the West Huskisson Lock is 6 feet, and that of the 
East Lock 6 feet 6 inches, under the Old Dock datum ; and 
the average water over the sill of the Huskisson Dock at 
high water, is 24 feet 9 inches, at ordinary spring tides, and 
17 feet 9 inches at neap tides. The water area of the 
Huskisson Dock is 15 acres 993 yards, and its quay space 
is 1,122 lineal yards. 

The amount of tonnage which entered the Huskisson 
Dock, in the financial year ending the 24th June, 1858, 
was 3 1 8,583 tons. The revenue of the Huskisson Dock that 
year was £30,209. Of this amount, £8,913 was derived 
from duties on goods entered inwards; £1,629 from goods 
shipped outwards; and £19,666 from shipping and lights. 
The trades with different countries contributed to the 
revenue of the Huskisson Dock, in that year, in the pro- 
portions shown by the following figures : — The United 
States, £17,231 ; the Mediterranean, £3,738 ; Ports between 
Mediterranean and Baltic, £1,209 ; British America, 
£4,198; Australia and New Zealand, £467; the Baltic, 
£447 ; East Indies, £391; West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, 
£203; West Coast of South America, £35; and coasting 
trade, £972. The prevailing trades in the Huskisson Dock 
are those of the United States, British America, and the 
Mediterranean. The chief revenue of the dock is derived 
from shipping and timber, and the Huskisson Dock is, 



83 



according to these figures, much more an importing than 
an exporting dock. 

THE SANDON DOCK AND BASIN. 

The Sandon Dock is the next in order, and was opened 
in the year 1851. 

The Sandon Dock is approached through the Sandon 
Basin. This basin is connected with the river by an open 
passage, 200 feet wide, and contains 6 acres 904 square 
yards of water space, and 702 lineal yards of quay space. 

The sill of the Sandon Dock is 6 feet 6 inches under 
the Old Dock datum or level ; and the average water over 
the sill at the Sandon Dock, at ordinary springs, is 24 feet 
9 inches, and at neaps 17 feet 9 inches. The water area 
of the Sandon Dock is 10 acres and 100 square yards, and 
the quay frontage is 867 lineal yards. 

The tonnage which entered the Sandon Dock in the 
year ending the 24th June, 1858, was 44,510 tons. The 
earnings of the dock that year were £3,831 16s. Id., 
of which £2,488 was derived from tonnage and rights, 
£678 from goods inwards, and £664 from goods outwards. 

The trades with different countries contributed to the 
earnings of the Sandon Dock, in the following propor- 
tions: — The United States, £1,891; Australia and New 
Zealand, £576 ; West Coast of South America, £547 ; 
European Ports, between the Mediterranean and the Baltic, 
£155; West Coast of South America, £114; British 
America and Newfoundland, £104; West Indies and Gulf 
of Mexico, £89 ; Mediterranean, £58 ; Ports of the Baltic, 
£39; Brazils, £10; West Coast of Africa, £4; and 
Coasters, £242. 



84 



THE SANDON GRAVING DOCKS. 

The Sandon Dock is chiefly used in connection with 
the Sandon Graving Docks, for the repair of large ships. 

The six Sandon Graving Docks are all of them 180 yards 
or 540 feet in length ; of these docks, No. 1 Graving Dock r 
East, has an entrance 60 feet wide ; No. 2, an entrance 70 
feet wide ; No. 3, an entrance 60 feet wide ; No. 4, an 
entrance 70 feet wide ; No. 5, an entrance 45 feet wide ;. 
and No. 6, West, also an entrance 45 feet wide. 



THE WELLINGTON DOCK AND HALF-TIDE DOCK. 

The Wellington Dock and the Wellington Half-tide 
Dock are next in order, and were opened in the year 1851. 
The Wellington Dock and the Wellington Half- tide Dock 
contain respectively, the former 7 acres 4,120 square yards 
of water area, and 820 lineal yards of quay space ; and the 
latter, 3 acres 813 yards of water area, and 400 lineal yards 
of quay space. The Wellington Dock is connected with 
the half-tide dock, by a passage to the west, 70 feet wide. 
The Wellington Half-tide Dock is connected with the San- 
don Basin by two entrances, one (the east) 70 feet wide, 
and the other (the west) 50 feet wide. 

The sill of the Wellington Half-tide Dock is 6 feet fr 
inches under the datum of the Old Dock sill ; the average 
water over the sill of the Wellington Dock, at ordinary 
springs, is 24 feet 3 inches, and at neaps 1 7 feet 3 inches. 

The amount of tonnage which entered the Wellington 
Dock, in the financial year ending the 24th June, 1858, was 



85 

135,474 tons. The revenue of the dock was £17,611 8s. 4 d. 
Of this amount £7,618 was derived from tonnage, £7,502 
from dues on goods inwards, and £2,280 from goods 
outwards. 

The amount contributed to the Wellington Dock and 
Half- tide Dock by the trades with different countries, or 
groups of countries, was : — The countries on the Mediterra- 
nean, £5,718 ; the United States, £5,346 ; British America, 
£2,584; the West Coast of Africa, £965; European 
Ports, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, £883 ; 
Australia, £344; West Coast of South America, £241; 
the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, £198; Ports of the 
Baltic, £47; Brazils, £32; Coasters, £242. The Medi- 
terranean, the United States, and British America are the 
three preponderating interests of the Wellington Dock and 
Half-tide Basin. Tonnage dues and dues on goods inward 
were the principal sources of revenue in the above year. 

THE BRAMLEY MOORE DOCK. 

The Bramley-Moore Dock is the next in order. The 
water area of this dock is 9 acres 3,106 yards; the quay 
space 937 yards. The north passage, which connects the 
Bramley-Moore Dock with the Wellington Half- tide Dock, 
is 60 feet wide ; and the south passage, which connects it 
with the Nelson Dock, is of the same width. They 
are both 6 feet below the datum of the Old Dock sill; and 
the average water, at high water of ordinary springs, is 
£4 feet 3 inches, and at neaps, 1 7 feet 3 inches. 

The shipping which entered the Bramley-Moore Dock, 
in the financial year ending the 24th June, 1858, amounted 

H 



86 

to 285,710 tons. The earnings of the Bramley-Moore Dock, 
in the same year, were £42,076 lis. 2d. Of this amount 
£20,436 7s. was derived from dues on sliipping, £17,987 
from goods inwards, and £3,552 from goods outwards. 

The revenue of the Bramley-Moore Dock was thus 
derived, in 1858 : — Trade with the United States, £36,220 ; 
West Coast of Africa, £1,047; West Coast of America, 
£974 ; Australia, £744 ; West Indies and the Gulf of 
Mexico, £569 ; Mediterranean, £467 ; European Ports, 
£96; Brazils, £111; the Baltic, £97; and Coasters, 
£272. The preponderating trade of this dock was that of 
the United States, the dock having "become the favourite 
resort of American ships for the discharge of cargoes. 

Both the Bramley-Moore and the Wellington Docks are 
connected with the Lancashire and Yorkshire and East 
Lancashire Kailway, and through them with the great 
Lancashire coal-field hy means of a high level railway. 
This railway was constructed hy the dock trustees, for the 
purpose of facilitating the loading of coals, hy means of 
the same kind of apparatus which is adopted, with so much 
success, at Newcastle, Cardiff, and the other great coal ports 
of the kingdom. The high level railway is about 1,000 feet 
in length; and was constructed at a cost of about £50,000- 
There are slips for landing cattle, both on the pier of the- 
Bramley-Moore Dock and on that of the HuskissonDock. 



THE NELSON DOCK. 

The Nelson Dock adjoins the Bramley-Moore Dock. 
The water area of the Nelson Dock is 7 acres 4,786 yards ; 
the quay space is 803 lineal yards. The Nelson Dock is 






87 

joined to the Bramley-Moore Dock, on the north, by a 
passage 60 feet wide, and to the Salisbury Half- tide 
Basin, by a passage also GO feet wide. The depth of the 
sill under the Old Dock datum is 6 feet 6 inches at the 
south entrance. The average depth of water at the south 
entrance of the Nelson Dock, is 24 feet 9 inches, at ordinary 
spring tides, and 17 feet 9 inches at neaps. 

The amount of shipping which entered the Nelson 
Dock in the financial year ended the 28th June, 1858, was 
216,549 tons; the revenue was £17,081 9s. lid. Of this 
£9,580 7s. 2d. was derived from dues on slripping, £5,493 
from dues on goods inwards, and £2,008 outwards. 

The revenue of the Nelson Dock was thus derived in 
1858: — Trade with the Mediterranean, £8,857; with the 
Continent, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, £5,074 ; 
Coasters, £1,910 ; West Coast of South America, £307 ; 
ports of the Baltic, £257 ; West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, 
£255 ; Brazils, £150 ; West Coast of Africa, £111 ; West 
Coast of South America, £70 ; British America and New- 
foundland, £29 ; East Indies, £25. The preponderating 
trades of this dock were those of the Mediterranean, the Coasts 
of Europe, from Gibraltar to Elsineur, and the coasting 
trade. The chief revenue was derived from shipping ; and 
the dock was principally used for the purposes of import. 

THE SALISBURY HALF-TIDE DOCK. 

The Salisbury Half-tide Dock, which comes next, serves 
us a passage and entrance into the Nelson Dock, the 
Collingwood, and the Stanley Docks, and also into the 
Clarence Graving Dock Basin. The water area of the 



88 

Salisbury Dock is 3 acres 2,146 yards, and its quay space is 
460 lineal yards. The sill of the Salisbury Dock is 6 feet 
11 inches under Old Dock datum, and the average water 
over it, at high water of ordinary springs, is 25 feet 2 inches, 
and at neaps 18 feet 2 inches. 

The shipping which entered the Salisbury Dock in the 
financial year ending June 24th, 1858, was 10,340 tons; 
the revenue was £ 1,903 Is. 9d. Of this £664: was derived 
from tonnage dues, £850 from dues inwards, and £409 
from dues outwards. 

The revenue of the Salisbury Dock was thus derived, in 
the last financial year : — The trade of the United States 
yielded £1,558 ; that of the East Indies, £204 ; that of 
the Mediterranean £74 ; that of Coasters, £31 ; that of the 
West Coast of Africa, £16; European Ports, £14; East 
Indies, £7 ; British America, £9 ; Brazils, £6 ; the Baltic, 
£1. The trade with the United States again preponderates. 
A handsome clock tower, built of granite, stands at the 
entrance of the Salisbury Dock, and gives time to the 
neighbouring docks. 

THE COLLINGWOOD DOCK. 

Next in order is the Collingwood Dock which, as 
already mentioned, communicates with the river through 
the Salisbury Dock. The water area of the Collingwood 
Dock is 5 acres 244 yards, the quay space is 553 yards. 
The depth of the sill is 6 feet 9 inches below the datum of 
the Old Dock sill; the average water, at high water of 
ordinary springs, is 25 feet 2 inches, and at neaps 18 feet 
2 inches. The shipping which entered the Collingwood 



m 

Dock, in the financial year ended 24th June, 1858, Was 
203,907 tons. The revenue was £5,296 19s. lid. Of this, 
£4,322 19s. 9d. was derived from tonnage dues, and 
£974 0s. 2d. from dues on merchandise. 

The revenue of the Collingwood Dock was thus derived 
in the last financial year : — Coasters engaged in the trade, 
of the United Kingdom, £4,023; trade with West Coast 
of South America, £810; Mediterranean, £248; Brazil, 
£51 ; West Coast of South America, £43 ; East Indies,; 
£41; Baltic, £32; West Indies, £18; European Ports, 
£13 ; British America, £12. The coasting trade of the 
three Kingdoms was the leading trade of the Collingwood 
Dock, and next to it the trade with the West Coast of 
South America. 



THE STANLEY DOCK AND WAREHOUSES. 

Further inland, and approached through the Salisbury 
and Collingwood Docks, is the Stanley Dock. The water 
area of the Stanley Dock is 7 acres 120 square yards, and 
the quay space is 753 yards. 

The amount of shipping which entered the Stanley 
Dock in the year ending June 24th, 1858, was 234,172 tons. 
The revenue of the dock was £28,752 7s. 4d. Of this 
sum £16,893 8s. 2d. was derived from dues on tonnage, 
and £11,858 19s. 2d. from dues on merchandise. 

The width of the west passage and dock gates at the 
entrance of the Stanley Dock is 5 1 feet. The depth of the 
sill under Old Dock datum is 5 feet 8 inches ; and the 
average water, in ordinary springs, is 23 feet 11 inches, and 
in neaps 16 feet 11 inches. 
H2 



90 

The Stanley Dock possesses a great variety of commer- 
cial conveniences. On the north and south sides are dock 
warehouses, five stories high, covering a surface of 12,000 
square yards. Into these warehouses goods are discharged 
by means of hydraulic power, as rapidly as it is possible to 
clear them away from the landing place. A man or a boy, 
raised on a stage, so that he may easily see into the hold 
of the vessel, from which the goods are to be taken, moves 
the lever, by which the power is let on or shut off, and so 
raises weights of many tons, by a touch. The Stanley 
Dock Warehouses last year yielded a revenue to the docks 
of £8,500. 

The Stanley Dock, besides being connected with the 
dock railway, has the advantage of being connected with 
the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, by a branch canal, con- 
structed for that purpose, at the cost of the dock estate. 
This branch canal is 1,400 feet in length, and is furnished 
with four locks, each of 80 feet length of chamber, and 
16J- feet wide. By means of this branch, goods put on 
board the canal boats at Leeds, Bradford, Bingley, Keithley, 
and other manufacturing towns of the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, or in the great seats of Lancashire manufac- 
tures, about Blackburn, Preston, Lancaster, and as far north 
as Kendal in Westmoreland, as well as the coal of the great 
Wigan coal field, can be brought into the Stanley Dock, 
from the canal, in barges, and so be conveyed into all the 
other docks. 

The revenue of the Stanley Dock is chiefly derived 
from the two greatest trades of the port, the American and 
the East Indian. The amounts yielded by those and other 
trades were as follow: — The United States, £16,523; the 



91 

East Indies and China, £6,5 90; the Mediterranean, £3,9 87; 
the West Coast of South America, £373; the West Indies 
and the Gulf of Mexico, £373 ; the West Coast of Africa, 
£227; the European Ports, £146; the Baltic, £70; 
British North America, £54; and Coasters, £167. The 
Stanley Dock, from its great advantages for unloading and 
storing, is almost entirely an import dock. 



THE CLARENCE DOCK AND HALF-TIDE DOCK. 

Next are the Clarence Dock, the Clarence Half- tide 
Dock, and the Clarence Graving Docks. 

The Clarence Half- tide Dock contains 4 acres 1,794 
square yards of water space and 635 yards of quay space. 
The width of the entrance is 50 feet, the sill is 5 feet 6 
inches under the Old Dock datum, and the average depth 
of water, at the river entrance is 23 feet 9 inches at ordi- 
nary spring tides, and 16 feet 9 inches at neaps. 

The Clarence Dock contains 6 acres, 273 square yards 
of water space, and 914 yards of quay space. The width 
of the entrance is 47 feet. The depth of the sill is 3 feet 
2 inches under Old Dock datum, and the average depth of 
water is 21 feet 5 inches at ordinary springs, and 11 feet 5 
inches at neaps. 

The tonnage which entered the Clarence Dock in the 
year ending June 24, 1858, was 427,503 tons. The revenue 
of the Dock was £8,544 5s. 6d. 

The Clarence Half- tide Basin the same year received 
shipping of the "burden of 120,162 tons, and yielded a 
revenue of £2,292 9s. lOd. 



92 



Nearly the whole revenue of the Clarence Dock and 
the Clarence Half-tide Docks is derived from steamers 
engaged in the coasting trade. Of the revenue of the 
Clarence Dock, £8,413 16s., was derived from dues on the 
vessels, chiefly steamers, engaged in the coasting trade of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland, and only the following 
trifling sums from trades with foreign countries : — Mediter- 
ranean, £54 15s.; British North America, £13 10s. 7d. ; 
Ports between the Baltic and the Mediterranean, £8 17s. 7d. ; 
Brazil, £17 5s. 3d. ; West Coast of South America, 
£32 6s. 3d.; East Indies, £2 10s. 8d. ; Baltic Ports, 
18s. 9d. The whole revenue of the Clarence Half- tide 
Dock was also derived from tonnage dues on coasters, 
chiefly steamers, and amounted to £2,292 9s. lOd. 

The average depth of water over the sill of the Clarence 
Dock, at high water of ordinary spring tides, is 21 feet 5 
inches; and at high water of neap tides 14 feet 5 inches 
The average water over the Clarence Half-tide Dock, at 
the river entrance, at high water of ordinary spring tides is 
•23 feet 9 inches; and at neaps 16 feet 9 inches. 

THE CLARENCE GRAVING DOCKS 

The Clarence Graving Docks are two in number, but 
are so arranged internally as to receive four vessels at once. 
The dimensions of the graving docks are respectively 135 
tmd 97, and 138 and 96 lineal yards in length. They open 
into the Clarence Graving Dock Basin, by two passages, 
one 45 feet wide, with a depth of 4 feet 9 inches, under the 
Old Dock sill, the other, also 45 feet wide, with a depth of 
4 feet 6 inches under Old Dock datum. 



93 

The water area of the Clarence Graving Dock Basin is 
1 acre 1,056 yards, and the quay space is 291 yards. 

THE TRAFALGAR DOCK. 

The Trafalgar Dock contains 5 acres 4,546 square 
yards of water space, and 764 yards of quay space. The 
width of the entrance is 45 feet. The depth of water at 
the entrance of the Trafalgar Dock, at high water of 
ordinary spring tides, is 23 feet 2 inches ; and at neaps 
16 feet 2 inches. 

The Trafalgar Lock, leading into the Trafalgar Dock 
from the Clarence Half-tide Basin, contains 2,937 square 
yards of water space, and 256 yards of quay space. The 
entrance into the Trafalgar Lock is 45 feet in width. Its 
sill is 6 feet 7 inches under Old Dock datum, and the 
depth of water at high water of ordinary spring tides is 23 
feet 2 inches ; and at neaps 1 6 feet 2 inches. 

The shipping which entered the Trafalgar Dock in the 
year ending June 24, 1858, was 206,492 tons; and the 
revenue of the Trafalgar Dock, in the financial year ended 
the 24th June, 1858, was £4,100 13s. 5d. Of this 
£3,882 9s. 9d. was derived from tonnage, and only 
£218 3s. 8d. from merchandise. This revenue, like that 
of the Clarence Dock, was derived almost entirely from 
vessels engaged in the coasting trade of the three kingdoms. 
The sum of £3,854 4s. Id. was received from that source; 
in addition to which the trade of the West Coast of South 
America, yielded £83 ; that of the Mediterranean, £60 ; 
that of the West Indies, £55 ; and that of the ports 
"between the Mediterranean and the Baltic, £11. 



M 



THE VICTORIA DOCK. 

The Victoria Dock contains a water space of 5 acres 
"2,790 square yards, and a quay space of 755 lineal yards. 
The width of the entrance is 40 feet; the sill is 4 feet 
1 1 inches under Old Dock datum ; and the average depth 
of water over the sill, at high water of ordinary spring 
tides, is 23 feet 2 inches, and 16 feet 2 inches at neaps. 

The shipping which entered the Victoria Dock in 1858 
was 96,325 tons; its revenue £12,952. 

The Victoria Dock is more equally divided amongst the 
principal trades of the port, the American still taking the 
lead. The amounts derived from each trade were as follow : 
United States, £5,392; Mediterranean, £1,737; European 
Ports on the Atlantic £1,529 ; East Indies and China, 
£1,172; West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, £1,365 ; West 
Coast of South America, £416; Baltic, £355; Brazil, 
£280 ; West Coast of Africa, £293 ; Australia, £74 ; 
British America, £72; Coasters, £272. The Victoria is 
also principally an import dock. 

THE WATERLOO DOCK. 

The Waterloo Dock contains a water area of 5 acres 
"2,790 square yards, and a lineal quay space of 700 yards. 

The average depth of water at the entrance of the 
Waterloo Dock, at high water of ordinary spring tides, is 
23 feet 2 inches, and at neaps 1 6 feet 2 inches. 

The shipping of the Waterloo Dock, in the financial 
year ended the 24th June, 1858, amounted to 234,727 tons; 
its revenue to £30,594. 



95 

Connected with the Waterloo Dock is the Waterloo 
Lock, containing a water area of 2,937 square yards, and 
a quay space of 256 yards. The depth of water at the 
Waterloo Lock is, at high water of ordinary spring tides,. 
24 feet 8 inches, and at high water of neap tides 17 feet 
8 inches, the sill of the Waterloo Lock "being 6 feet 5 inches 
under the Old Dock datum at the north passage, and 6 feet 
8 inches at the south entrance. The width of entrance in 
both cases is 45 feet. 

The Waterloo Dock is another dock which is almost 
filled by the trade with the United States. The amount 
yielded by the trade of the United States to the revenue of 
this dock was £27,714 ; by the trade of the Mediterranean, 
£513 ; of the West Indies, £403 ; the Baltic Ports, £311 ; 
European Ports in the Atlantic Ocean, £339 ; Brazil, £98;; 
Australia, £70 ; West Coast of South America, £64 ; West 
Coast of Africa, £31 ; and Coasters, £539. The Waterloo 
Dock is chiefly an import dock. Its vicinity to the goods, 
station of the London and North- Western Kailway, gives it 
great advantages for the trade with Manchester, and with 
the towns along the whole of the London and North- 
western Kailway. 

The Observatory stands on the pier between the 
Waterloo and the Prince's Dock. 



THE PRINCES DOCK. 

The Prince's Dock contains an area of 11 acres 3,899* 
square yards, and a quay space of 1,614 yards. The depth 
of water at the entrance of the Prince's Dock at high 



96 

water, of ordinary spring tides, is 24 feet 2 inches, and at 
neaps 1 7 feet 2 inches. 

The revenue of the Prince's Dock, in the financial year 
ended the 24th June, 1858, was £28,581 17s. 7d. Of this 
sum £12,816 9s. was derived from tonnage dues, and 
£15,765 8s. 7d. from merchandise. The tonnage which 
entered the Prince's Dock in that year was 215,474 tons. 

The Prince's Dock is also furnished with locks, and is 
entered hy two passages, — the north, 45 feet; the south, 
44 feet 1 1 inches wide ; the sill of "both 5 feet 1 1 inches 
under Old Dock datum; and the average depth at high 
water, of ordinary spring tides, is 24 feet 2 inches, and at 
neaps 17 feet 2 inches. 

The Prince's Dock, which was formerly filled with the 
trade of the United States, is now divided amongst many 
trades, the East Indian and China, the West Indian and 
the Brazilian taking the lead. The amounts from the 
different "branches of trade were as follow: — The East 
Indies and China, £8,782 ; West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, 
£5,110; Brazil, £4,699; West Coast of South America, 
£2,406; United States, £1,967; British North America, 
£1,745; Australia, £1,411; European Ports, £703; 
Mediterranean £546; West Coast of Africa, £272; Baltic,. 
£140; and Coasters, £786. 



THE GEORGE S DOCK. 

The George's Dock and passage contains 5 acres 2,593 
square yards of water area, and 100,1 yards of quay space. 
The depth of water over the sill of the George's Dock at 



97 

high water, ordinary spring tides, is 22 feet 9 inches, and 
at neaps 15 feet 9 inches. 

The shipping which entered the George's Dock in 1858 
amounted to 105,263 tons. Its revenue in the last finan- 
cial year was £9,570, of which £4,653 was derived from 
goods inward, and £2,236 from goods outwards. 

The West Indian, Brazilian, and Mediterranean trades 
preponderated, last year, in the George's Dock. The 
different branches of trade contributed as follows, to the 
income of the dock : — West Indies, £2,284 ; Brazil, 
£2,223; European Ports, £1,497; Mediterranean, £1,306; 
British North America, £438; West Coast of South 
America, £410; West Coast of Africa, £231; Baltic, 
£162; Australia, £51 ; United States, £10. The dues on 
imports and exports are nearly equal in the George's Dock. 

THE MANCHESTER DOCK. 

The Manchester Dock, constructed for the use of vessels 
engaged in the river trade, contains 1 acre 595 square 
yards of quay space. The width of the entrance is 32 feet 
10 inches. The sill is 3 inches above Old Dock datum. 

The Manchester Lock contains a water area of 315 
yards, and a quay space of 57 yards. The entrance is 33 
feet 8 inches in width, and the sill is 3 feet 9 inches under 
Old Dock datum. 



THE CANNING DOCK. 

The Canning Dock contains 4 acres 376 square yards 
of water area, and has a quay space of 585 yards. The 

I 



98 



width of entrance is 45 feet. The sill is 6 feet 5 inches 
under the Old Dock datum, and the average depth of wateiv 
over the sill of the Canning Dock, at high water of ordi- 
nary spring tides, is 24 feet 6 inches, and at neaps 17 feet 
6 inches. 

The Canning Half- tide Basin, connected with the Can- 
ning Dock, contains 2 acres 2,689 yards of water area, 
and 429 yards of quay space. The two west passages are 
both 45 feet wide. The average depth of water is 24 feet 
6 inches at high water, of ordinary spring tides, and 17 
feet 6 inches at neaps. 

The shipping which entered the Canning Tide and Half- 
tide Dock in 1858 was 102,470 tons. The revenue was 
£3,083, of which £2,353 was from tonnage, £484 from 
goods inwards, and £245 from goods outwards. This 
dock derived its income in 1858, from the following 
sources: — Coasters, £1,967; European Ports, £569 
Mediterranean, £233; West Coast of Africa, £143 
British North America, £41 ; West Coast of America, £34 
United States, £29; Baltic, £24; East Indies, £19; West 
Indies, £13. 

THE CANNING GRAVING DOCK. 

There are two graving docks connected with the Can- 
ning Dock. Of these, No. 1 is 147 yards in length, and 
No. 2 169 yards. The entrances of both are 35 feet 9 
inches wide. 

THE ALBERT DOCK. 

The Albert Dock contains 7 acres 3,542 square yards 
of water area, and 885 yards of quay space. The depth of 



99 

water at the entrance of the Albert Dock at high water of 
ordinary spring tides, is 24 feet 3 inches, at neaps 1 7 feet 3 
inches. The tonnage which entered the Albert Dock in 
1858 was 260,441 tons. 

The Albert Dock is surrounded by an immense pile of 
dock warehouses, into which the cargoes of vessels are 
discharged, by means of hydraulic power. 

In the upper story of the Albert Dock is a large room, 
fitted up for the sale of sheep's wool, with windows only to 
the north to insure a perfectly steady light. There is also 
a large room on the same floor, for the storing of ivory. 

The revenue of the Albert Dock in 1858 was £34,524. 

The Albert Dock is the chief East India and China 
dock, its dock warehouses giving it great advantages for 
that trade. In the last financial year its earnings were 
derived from the different trades of the port, in the follow- 
ing amounts: — The East India and China trade, £19,870 ; 
the United States, £5,093 ; the Brazilian, £3,071 ; West 
Coast of South America, £1,721 ; the West Indies, £1,800 ; 
the Mediterranean, £1,216; West Coast of Africa, £721 ; 
British America, £379 ; Australia, £342 ; European Ports, 
£153; Baltic, £62; and Coasters, £82. 



THE SALTHOUSE DOCK. 

The Salthouse Dock contains 6 acres 2,019 square yards 
of water space, and a quay space of 784 yards. The 
depth of water at the entrance of the Salthouse Dock at 
ordinary spring tides, is 24 feet 3 inches, at neaps 1 7 feet 
3 inches. The width of the entrance is 45 feet, its sill is 
6 feet under Old Dock datum. 



100 

The tonnage which entered the Salthouse Dock in 1858 
was 5,267 tons. 

The revenue of the Salthouse Dock, in 1858, was 
£3,759. Of this £125 was derived from tonnage, £84 
from goods inward, and £3,543 from goods outward. 

The Salthouse Dock is one of the favourite docks of 
the East India and China trade, for loading vessels. The 
earnings of the dock from different trades were as follow : 
East India and China, £1,796; West Coast of South 
America, £793; Brazil, £416; Australia, £198; West 
Indies, £159; British North America, £148; West Coast 
of Africa, £118; Mediterranean, £32; United States, 
£23 ; European Ports, £3 ; Baltic, £1 ; Coasters, £62. 



THE WAPPING DOCK. 

The Wapping Dock contains 5 acres, 499 square yards 
of water area, and 1,815 yards of quay space. The width, 
hoth of the west and south passages, is 50 feet ; the sill is 
6 feet under the Old Dock datum. 

The shipping which entered the Wapping Dock was of 
66,008 tons hurthen. 

The revenue of the Wapping Dock in 1858 was £10,817, 
of which £4, 681 was derived from tonnage and lights,£5,742 
from goods inward, and £383 from goods outward. 

The revenue of the Wapping and Half- tide Docks is 
also chiefly derived from the East India and China trade, 
the dock warehouses at the Wapping Dock, like those at 
the Albert and the Stanley, giving great facilities. The 
earnings of the Wapping Dock were derived from different 



101 

trades, as follows : — East Indies and China, £5,371 ; United 
States, £1,857; West Coast of Africa, £1,969; Brazil, 
£800 ; West Coast of South America, £582 ; West Indies, 
£380 ; Mediterranean, £229 ; British North America, 
£216; Baltic, £137; European Ports, £119; Australia, 
£13; Coasters, £58. 

THE KING'S DOCK. 

The King's Dock contains a water area of 7 acres, 
"3,896 square yards; and a quay space of 875 yards. The 
depth of water on the sill of the King's Dock, at high 
water of ordinary spring tides, is 23 feet 3 inches, at neaps 
16 feet 3 inches. 

The shipping which entered the King's Dock in 1858 
was of the burthen of 127,215 tons. 

The revenue of the King's Dock in 1858 was £14,735 : 
of this amount £7,423 was from tonnage and lights, 
£7,313 from goods, of which £5,462 were goods inward, 
and £1,538 goods outward. 

The Mediterranean trade takes the lead at the King's 
Dock. The earnings of the dock last year were as follow : 
Mediterranean, £3,723 ; United States, £2,177 ; European 
Ports, £1,753; the Baltic, £1,717: the West Indies, 
£1,712 ; the Brazils, £1,156 ; British North America, £788; 
West Coast of South America, £502; West Coast of Africa, 
£243; East Indies, £330; Coasters, £606. 

THE DUKE'S DOCK. 

The Duke's Dock, so named in honour of the great 
12 



102 

Duke of Bridgewater, lies between the Albert and Salt- 
house Docks, to the north, and the Wapping and the 
King's Dock, to the south. When this dock was con- 
structed, by Brindley, the celebrated engineer of the duke's 
canals, the only public dock near it was the Salthouse Dock, 
and at that time there were only three docks to the north of 
it, and not one to the south. The Duke's Dock is still the 
Liverpool terminus of the two principal lines of water 
communication, from this port to Manchester, both of which 
are now the property of the heirs of the great duke. They 
are still much used, and are still very useful, for canals and 
navigable rivers have stood the competition of railways 
much more successfully than high roads. 



THE TOBACCO WAREHOUSE. 

The public Tobacco Warehouse, covering several acres of 
ground, and built by the Corporation, at a cost of £68,000, 
lies on the west side of the King's Dock, between the dock 
and the pier, facing the river ; and on the east side of the 
dock is a gigantic landing shed, filling up the whole dis- 
tance between the King's Dock and the Wapping Dock. 
This shed is 90 feet wide, and 575 feet in length, the roof 
resting on massive columns of iron. 

THE QUEEN'S DOCK. 

The Queen's Dock contains 10 acres, 1,568 square yards, 
of water space. The entrance of the west passage is 50 
feet wide, that of the south passage, 60 feet. The entrance 



103 

to the Queen's Dock from the river is through the Queen's 
Basin, which has a water space of 3 acres, 3,542 square 
yards, and a quay space of 445 yards. The basin is con- 
nected with the river, by two gates, 70 and 50 feet wide. 

The average depth of water, at the north gate, at ordi- 
nary spring tides, is 20 feet, and at neaps 13 feet; at the 
south 21 feet 5 inches at springs, and 14 feet 5 inches at 
neaps. 

The shipping which entered the Queen's Dock was 
153,911 tons. The revenue of the dock in that financial 
year was £19,798: of this amount £10,434 was derived from 
tonnage and lights, and £9,364 from goods, £6,693 from 
goods inward, and £2,622 from goods outward. 

The Wapping Goods Station of the London and North 
Western Railway, lies close to the Queen's Dock, as well as 
to the Wapping Dock and the King's. It gives those three 
docks the same advantages, for communicating with Man- 
chester, Birmingham, and London, by railway, which the 
Northern Station gives to the Victoria, Waterloo, and 
Trafalgar Docks. The Wapping Station also gives advan- 
tages, of the same kind, to the Salthouse and Albert Docks, 
on one side, and to the Coburg and Brunswick Docks, on 
the other. 

The trade of British North America takes the lead at 
the Queen's Dock. The earnings of this large and useful 
dock were as follow : — British North America and New- 
foundland, £5,841 ; United States of America, £3,707 ; 
the Mediterranean, £1,973 ; Australia, £1,746 ; West Coast 
of Africa, £1,491 ; East Indies and China, £1,318 ; 
European Ports, £1,212; West Indies, £698; the Baltic, 
£808; Brazil, £381 ; Coasters, £178. 



104 

THE COBURG DOCK. 

The Coburg Dock contains 8 acres 26 square yards, 
*md a quay space of 1,053 yards. The west entrance is 
70 feet 1 inch in width. The sill is 6 feet under Old Dock 
datum, and the average water over the sill is 23 feet 3 
inches, at high water of ordinary spring tides, and 16 feet 
3 inches at neap tides. 

The shipping which entered the Coburg Dock in 1858 
was of the burthen of 46,478 tons. 

The revenue of the Coburg Dock, in the financial year 
1858, was £6,094. Of this £3,097 was derived from dues 
on shipping, and £2,996 from duties on goods; £2,831 
inward, and £165 outward. 

The earnings of the Coburg Dock in 1858 were thus 
derived : — The United States, £3,167 ; Mediterranean, 
£691 ; Baltic, £367 ; European Ports, £477; East Indies, 
£271 ; West Coast of Africa, £187 ; West Coast of South 
America, £134 ; West Indies, £98 ; Brazil, £82 ; Australia, 
£35 ; British South America, £25 ; Coasters, £58. 

The Coburg Dock was built for the accommodation of 
the great ocean steamers, but they have now chiefly 
removed to the Huskisson and the Canada Docks. 

THE BRUNSWICK DOCK. 

The Brunswick Dock contains a water space of 12 acres 
3,010 square yards, and a quay space of 1,086 lineal yards. 
The entrance is 60 feet wide ; the sill 6 feet 6 inches under 
Old Dock datum; the depth of water, at highwater of 
ordinary spring tides, is 22 feet 9 inches, at neaps, 15 feet 
9 inches. 



105 



The shipping which entered the Brunswick Dock in 
1858 was 200,663 tons. 

The revenue of the Brunswick Dock in the financial 
year 1858, was £23,699. Of this amount £14,548 was 
derived from dues on tonnage, £9,129 from dues on goods, 
£8,243 inwards, and £579 outwards. 

The Brunswick Dock has long been the great dock for 
the British and North American and timber trade. Its 
earnings last year were derived from the following sources : 
British North America, £16,133 ; the United States, 
£5,494; the Baltic, £886; the West Indies and Gulf of 
Mexico, £345 ; the West Coast of Africa, £76 ; European 
Ports, £46 ; Mediterranean, £22 ; Brazil, £29 ; Australia, 
£13 ; and Coasters, £72. 

THE TOXTETH DOCK. 

The Toxteth Dock has an entrance 40 feet wide, a sill 
5 feet under Old Dock datum. Its water space is 1 acre 
469 yards. The average depth of water at the entrance of 
the Toxteth Dock is 23 feet 3 inches, at high water of 
ordinary spring tides, and 1 6 feet 3 inches at neaps. 

The revenue from the Toxteth Dock was £2,572. Of 
this £1,420 was derived from tonnage, £1,152 from goods; 
£1,108 inwards, and £450 outwards. 

The West Indian and American trades prevail at the 
Toxteth Dock. The earnings of each branch of trade were 
as follows at this dock : — West Indies and Mexico, £1,348 ; 
British North America, £673 ; West Coast of South 
America, £160 ; United States of America, £121 ; European 
Ports, £76; East Indies, £47; Baltic, £41 ; Brazil, £16; 
Coasters, £81. 



106 



THE HARRINGTON DOCK. 

The Harrington Dock has a water space of 3,740 
square yards, and a quay space of 315 lineal yards. 

The last of the docks, the Harrington, is chiefly used 
in the trade with the West Coast of South America. Its 
earnings were as follow : — West Coast of South America, 
£1,256 ; West Indies, £23 ; British North America, £34 ; 
European Ports, £13; Mediterranean, £2; East Indies, 
£1 ; Coasters, £337. 

The revenue of the Harrington Dock was £1,671. Of 
this sum £840 was derived from tonnage, and £831 from 
goods ; nearly the whole of the latter, £827, "being from 
merchandise inward, and only £2 from merchandise outward. 

THE LANDING STAGES. 

In addition to the docks and quays, two landing stages, 
of enormous magnitude, have been constructed, on the 
Liverpool side of the river, for the use of passengers and 
steamers, and a third is about to be constructed at Birken- 
head, for the same purposes. 

The Ferry Landing Stage, opposite the George's Pier, 
constructed for the convenience of the traffic with all the 
ferries on the Cheshire side, is 500 feet long, by 80 feet 
wide. It floats on 35 iron pontoons, and is approached on 
the land side by two bridges, 150 feet in length, which rise 
and fall with the tide. The stage is moored by two breast 
ohains, attached diagonally to the quay wall, and there are 
also moorings at each end, as safeguards, but they are 
never used. 



107 

The New Landing Stage, for sea- going steamers, is of 
much greater length. It is 1,000 feet long by 80 feet wide, 
and has four bridges, each 110 feet 9 inches long. It is 
moored by four breast chains, attached diagonally to the 
quay walls. This stage floats on 63 pontoons. 

The Birkenhead Landing Stage will be 800 feet long. 
A portion of it, 300 feet in length, will be appropriated to 
the ferry traffic, and the remaining 500 feet will be applied 
to the use of sea- going steamers. 

These landing stages are amongst the greatest improve- 
ments ever introduced into the port of Liverpool. They 
are perfectly accessible at all states of the tide, and, when 
finished, will form together an addition of upwards of 
2,000 feet, to the quay accommodation of the port. 

THE NEW BIKKENHEAD DOCKS: THE GREAT 
ELOAT. 

The Birkenhead docks, when completed, will consist of 
the following extensive works : — First, of two large floats, 
containing together upwards of 111 acres. These are 
named the Eastern and Western Floats, and are to be 
united with each other, by a passage and gates 100 feet 
wide. They are both to be formed in the ancient bed of 
Wallasey Pool. 

THE WESTERN FLOAT. 

The Western Float, the further from the river, will 
contain 52 acres 319 square yards of water area, and a 
quay space, 2 miles 210 yards in length. This immense 

K 



108 



float has now been sunk to an uniform depth of 35 feet, 
and dock walls are in course of construction around it, of 
the thickness of 10 feet. 



THE EASTERN FLOAT. 

The Eastern Float will contain 59 acres 3,786 square 
yards, and a quay space of 1 mile 1,506 lineal yards. The 
Eastern Float, like the Western, has been sunk to an uniform 
depth of 35 feet; walls, of equal magnitude with those 
already spoken of, are now building around it. Upwards 
of 2,000,000 cubic yards, of clay and earth, have been dug 
out and cleared away from the two floats. 

THE ENTRANCES FROM THE RIVER. 

The main entrance into the East Float, and through it 
to the West Float, from the river, will be by means of three 
passages, one 30 feet wide, another 50 feet wide, another 
100 feet wide. These passages will admit vessels from the 
river Mersey, into an area or dock space of 7j- acres, and 
from this area or dock, they will proceed, through three 
other passages, of equal width, into the Eastern Float. 

The deep water entrances from the river, into the Great 
Float, are to be sunk to the depth of 12 feet under the Old 
Dock datum. 

THE EMBANKMENT ACROSS THE FLOATS. 

The Eastern and Western Floats will be divided from 
each other, by a permanent embankment, but a passage. 



109 



] 00 feet wide, will keep open the communication between 
the two floats, and a moveable bridge, across this passage, 
will maintain the communication between the Birkenhead 
^nd the Seacombe sides of the embankment. 



THE GREAT LOW WATER BASIN. 

The Great Low-water Basin, which forms another im- 
portant part of the Birkenhead plan, is to contain a water 
area of 14 acres, and will form a parallelogram 300 feet 
wide, and 1,600 feet in length. This Low- water Basin will 
be open at all times to the river, and, to prevent its being 
filled up by the sand and mud, which are carried along in 
such large quantities by the waters of the Mersey, it is to 
be sluiced or scoured out, by discharging through it, at 
low water, a certain portion of the tidal waters, received 
into the Great Float at high water. The sluices are to 
have a sectional area of not less than 800 feet, and the 
quantity of water discharged through them, at an 18 feet 
tide, will be 28,000,000 cubic feet. The Low-water Basin 
is also to have a communication with the Great Float, by 
means of a lock, 50 feet wide, and 240 feet in length. 



THE SECOND LOW-WATER BASIN. 

Another Low-water Basin, open at all times to the river, 
is to be formed near the present entrance of the Morpeth 
Pock, for the accommodation of small vessels, engaged in 
the trade of the river and also of coasters. 



110 



THE ENLARGED MORPETH DOCK. 

Through this second Low-water Basin, near the point 
where it joins the river, a new passage, 85 feet in width, is 
to be made into the Morpeth Dock, which is to he enlarged, 
to the size of 11 acres, and to have another communication 
with the Low-water Basin, first spoken of, through a 
passage 85 feet wide. The river entrance to this dock 
will also be sunk 12 feet below the level of the Old 
Dock sill. At present the Morpeth Dock contains less 
than four acres of water space. 

THE EGERTON DOCK. 

The Egerton Dock, of nearly 4 acres, will remain with 
little alteration. It will be connected, as at present, with 
the Morpeth Dock, and through it with the smaller Low- 
water Basin and the river, at one end, and with the Great 
Float at the other. The Egerton and the Morpeth Docks 
are the only docks now in use at Birkenhead. 

There will thus be five separate passages leading from 
the Great Floats, and the docks, into the river. They will 
all be strongly secured against storms, by double gates. 

THE BIRKENHEAD LANDING STAGE. 

Beyond the second Low- water Basin, and in front of 
the Woodside Slip, a landing stage will be erected, 800 feet 
in length, to which steamers will be able to approach, 
in all states of the tide. Five hundred feet of this landing 
stage will be applied to the use of the larger class of 
steamers, engaged in the trade with Ireland, Scotland, 



Ill 



and the coasts of England and Wales. The remaining 
300 feet will be applied to the accommodation of the 
immense and ever-increasing personal communication be- 
tween Liverpool and Birkenhead. 

THE BIRKENHEAD DOCK ESTATE. 



The items of receipt and expenditure from 1st January 
to 24th June, 1858, were as follow : 



£ 
} 3,441 



Dr. 

To Cash received for Dock 
Rates . . 

Use of Gridiron 100 15 

Use of Cranes 44 16 

Eentof Customs' Depot.. 30 
„ Wharf, Land, &c. .. 1,322 9 
„ Land Herculan'm 1 , M . - 

Estate J 1 ' 014 6 

„ Dock Cottages .... 773 15 



£6,727 3 

Due to A. Heywood, Sons, 1 ^ 0Aa , , 

and Co., Bankers.... |**>^ 8 LL 



£50,975 14 8 



Cr. £ 

ByDisbdrsements on account 
of New Works, viz. : 

Great Float 25,557 

Great Float, North Wall.. 4,108 
River Wall, opposite the ) 
South Reserve j" 



6 
5 

937 5 2 



Materials unexpended, ) 

viz.:— Iron, Timber, \ 11,864 14 4 

Limestone, & Stone. ) 

General Repairs 5,953 5 

Salaries 820 10 11 

Miscellaneous 734 12 4 



£50,975 14 8 



AREA OF OF THE DOCK ESTATE ON BOTH SIDES OF 
THE RIVER. 

The whole area of the dock estate, on the Liverpool 
side of the Mersey, is about 807 acres, and it is thus divided : 

Docks 212 J acres. 

Basins 23J 

Oraving Docks 13 

Warehouses 11 

Nova Scotia Property 7 

Quays 220 

Ground let on rent 87 

Marine Parades 10 

Unappropriated 223 



Total. 



.807 



k2 



112 



The area of the Birkenhead Dock Estate is 443£ acres. 
Of this 158 acres will be water space, and 285 will remain 
for quays, and land to be appropriated to trading purposes. 
The total extent of the estate of the Mersey Dock and Har- 
bour Trust is thus, as follows : — 

On the Liverpool side 807 acres. 

On the Birkenhead side 445J „ 



1,252 „ 

THE ENGINEER'S REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF THE 
BIRKENHEAD DOCKS. 

The following report, as to the progress of the works, 
at Birkenhead, made by Mr. John B. Hartley, the engineer 
of the docks, to the dock solicitor, in the latter part of 
December, was read by the chairman of the Mersey Docks 
and Harbour Board, at the meeting of the Board, held on 
the 15th of January, of the present year, 1859 : 

" The progress we have made with the Birkenhead Docks 
is as follows : — We have built about one-third of the wall 
on the north side of the Great Float ; we have excavated 
about 50,000 cubic yards, in the formation of the large 
Low- water Basin; we have built about one-half of the 
north wall of the enclosure of the Woodside Basin ; we 
have put in the foundations, of about 100 feet, of the Kiver 
Wall of the South Beserve — a most difficult work, owing 
to the depth and nature of the quicksand ; and we are pro- 
gressing with the works, at the large new lock, to enter the 
enlarged Morpeth Dock; we have also entered into a 
contract with Mr. William M'Cormick for the excavation 



113 

of the whole of the earthwork, necessary for the completion 
of the works, as sanctioned by parliament, involving the 
payment of about £140,000. We have spent this year 
upon, and on account of these works, £115,000; the num- 
ber of men now employed in the formation of the Birken- 
head Docks is about 1,860, but they are being added to 
constantly, as we are able to get to work at different points. 
Our weekly expenditure has averaged about £1,900 ; but this 
is now also being increased weekly, as we transfer the 
workmen from this side, and are able to employ them at 
Birkenhead." 



THE NAVIGATION OF THE MEESEY AT THE 
COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAE 1859. 

The annual report of Eear- Admiral George Evans, the 
acting conservator of the port, to the Conservancy Board, 
dated January 31st, 1859, brings down the history of the 
navigation of the Mersey to the present time. The follow- 
ing passages from the report complete the account of the 
port, given above. 

" The navigation of the river Mersey continues in a 
most satisfactory state, both as regards the sea channels 
leading to the port of Liverpool, as also those of the upper 
estuary, between Liverpool, Euncorn, Frodsham, and War- 
rington. 

" The survey of the northern channels, made during 
the summer of 1858, by Lieutenant Murray T. Parks, E.N., 
the talented marine surveyor of the port, exhibits a pro- 
gressive improvement in the Queen Channel, the entrance to 



114 

which from the sea is now indicated by one of Mr. Herbert's 
patent black pillar buoys, bearing a bell, elevated 30 feet 
above the water line. 

"The admirable way in which Mr. Herbert's patent 
buoys float, at so great an elevation, has induced the Mersey 
Docks and Harbour Board to order eight more of his buoys 
to be moored in the Queen Channel, which will afford 
additional security during dark nights or foggy weather, 
as well as distinguishing that channel from the others. 

"The crews of the Liverpool life-boats have dis- 
tinguished themselves as usual, by assisting 21 vessels in 
distress, and saving the lives of 42 persons, during the past 

year 1858. 

" The returns state that 46,524 vessels passed in and 
out of Liverpool during the year 1858, being 7,764 vessels 
less than the previous year 1857, a circumstance to be 
attributed most probably to the effects of the mercantile 
panic during that period, as well as to the great increase in 
the size of the ships. 

" It is gratifying to state that this prodigious number of 
vessels, averaging 128 per diem, were conducted through 
the various channels and quicksands of the port, by the 
skilful pilots of Liverpool, with only the loss of a brigantine 
and a schooner under their charge, and both these small 
craft were intrusted to apprentices. The schooner, loaded 
with salt, was sunk by collision, and the brigantine was 
lifted and placed on the beach at the Magazines. 

" The only dock works of consequence done on the 
Liverpool side of the river Mersey, during the year 1858, 
has been the opening of the Canada Dock for shipping and 
the completion of the Canada Basin. 



115 

" They are removing the stank, between the Canada 
Basin and the river, to enable ships to pass through the 
l)asin into the Canada Dock. 

" About 160 yards of the north wall, which is to enclose 
the Woodside Basin, has been built up to the coping. 

" About 130 feet of the river wall of the South Keserve 
has been built up to the level of the Old Dock sill. Great 
difficulty has been experienced in getting in the foundations 
of this portion of river wall, owing to the nature of the 
soil at the bottom. 

" The excavations of the deep Low-water Basin have 
been carried on most vigorously; upwards of 75,000 cubic 
yards have been removed. 

" Nearly one-third, or about 900 lineal yards, of the 
wall on the north side of the Great Float are completed. 

" Half the main sewer, between the Great Float and 
Seacombe point, has been finished, and about 189 lineal 
yards of the river wall, to protect the land between 
Seacombe and Egremont, has been constructed. 

" Some idea may be formed of the vigour with which 
Mr. Hartley, the eminent Liverpool dock engineer, is going 
on with these works, from his having 2,300 men employed 
•on them, and increasing that number daily as the work 
opens out. Unfortunately Mr. Hartley's labour and anxiety 
have been greatly increased at Birkenhead, in consequence 
of the tumbling down of the contract walls of the Great 
Moat, (which walls were erected previously to the transfer 
of the property to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board,) 
and which afford a striking contrast to Mr. Hartley's father's 
magnificent dock works at Liverpool, a stone of which, to 
my knowledge, has never given way." 



116 



TABLE OF THE DIMENSIONS OF THE LIVERPOOL AND 
BIRKENHEAD DOCKS. 

The following table shows the area of water, quay 
space, width of entrance, and depth of sill for each dock, 
also the length of graving docks, &c, in 1858 : 



LIVERPOOL DOCKS. 


Width 
Entr ce. 


Sill under 

Old Dock 

Datum. 


Coping at 
Hollow 
Quoins 

above Sill. 


Water 
Area. 


Quay 
Space. 




Ft. In. 


Ft. In. 


Ft. 


In. 


Acr. Yd. 


Mile.Yd 


Canada Dock 


50 





*6 6* 


35 


*6 


17 4043 


1272 


South Passages East 


West 


80 





6 6 


35 


6 






500-feet Lock 


ICO 

80 
45 
70 




'6 





7 9 
.. .. 
6 6 
6 
6 6 


35 

44 
32 

37 


9 

*6 

6 


1 3479 
14 3451 
4682 
3650 
10 100 


487 
1122 
342 
330 ! 
867 


Huskisson Dock 


Huskisson East Lock 


Huskisson West Lock 


Sandon Dock West Entrance 


Wellington Hf-tide Dk.,East En. 


70 





6 9 


34 


9 


3 813 


400 | 


West Entrance 


50 





6 6 


32 


6 






Wellington Dock . .West Passage 


70 





6 


37 





7 4120 


820 i 


Bramley-Moor Dk., Nortb Pass. 


60 





6 


32 





9 3106 


935 ! 


South Passage 


60 





6 


32 







! 


Nelson Dock South Passage 


60 





6 6 


32 


6 


7 4786 


803 j 


Stanley Dock West Passage 


51 





5 8 


34 


8 


7 120 


753 


Collingwood Dock, West Passage 


60 





6 9 


32 


9 


5 244 


553 | 


Salisbury Dock 






. . 






3 2146 


406 


West Entrances North 


60 


'6 


6 11 


32 


ii 






South 


50 





6 11 


32 


n 






Clarence Graving ) North Pass. 
Dock Basin J South Pass. 


45 





4 9 


30 


9 


1 1056 


291 


45 





4 6 


31 









Clarence Half-tide Dk.,\Vest En 


50 





5 6 


34 





4 1794 


635 


Clarence Dock West Passage 


47 





3 2 


29 


2 


6 273 


914 


Trafalgar Lock, N. & S. Passages 


45 





6 7 


30 


5 


fl 2937 


256 


Trafalgar Dock . .South Passage 


45 





4 11 


31 


4 


5 4546 


764 


Victoria Dock South Passage 


40 





4 11 


31 


3 


5 3559 


755 ' 


Waterloo Dock 






.. .. 






5 3056 


737 j 


Waterloo Lock North Passage 


45 





6 5 


S3 





O 2937 


256 


South Entrance 


45 





6 8 


33 


3 




j 


Prince's Dock & Locks, N. Entr. 


45 





5 11 


34 


1 


11 3889 


1613 ! 


South Entrance 


44 11 


5 11 


34 


1 






George's Dk. & Passage, N. Ent. 


41 11 


4 6 


29 





5 2593 


1001 ! 


South Passage 


40 


1 


4 6 

Sill above 

Old Dock 

Datum. 


28 


11 






• Manchester Dk., West Entrance 


32 10 


3 


23 





1 595 


339 ! 








Sill under 
















Old Dock 
















Datum. 










Manchester Lock,West Entrance 


33 


8 


3 9 


28 





315 


57 


Canning Dock West Passage 


45 





6 3 


32 


3 


4 376 


585 


Canning Half-tide Basin 












2 2688 


429 


Two West Entrances . .each 


45 


'6 


*6 '4 


34 


*6 






Albert Dock North Passage 


45 





6 4 


32 


4 


7 3542 


885 


East Passage 


45 





6 


32 










117 



TABLE OF DIMENSIONS, ETC., CONTINUED. 



LIVERPOOL DOCKS. 



Salthouse Dock.. North Passage 

Wapping Basin West Passage 

North & South Passage, each 

Wapping Dock West Passage 

South Passage 

King's Dock South Passage 

Basin to Queen's Dock 

West Entrances North 

South 

Queen's Dock . . . .West Passage 

South Passage 

Cohurg Dock West Entrance | 

Brunswick Dock, North Passage 

Brunswick Hf-tide Dk..Et. Pass. 

West Entrance 

ToxtethDock West Entrance 

Harrington Dock, West Entrance 

Total Water Area and Quay Space 
of the Liverpool Docks .... 



Width 

of 

Entr'ce 



Ft. Ln. 
45 

40 
50 
50 



LIVERPOOL BASINS. 

North Basin 

Sandon Basin 

Prince's Basin 

Seacombe Basin 

George's Basin 

George's Ferry Basin 

Manchester Basin 

South Ferry Basin 

Harrington Basin 



Total Water Area & Quay Space 
of the Liverpool Basins 

Total Water Area & Quay Space 
of the Liverpool Docks 






'6 



1 




40 
29 9 



Sill under 

Old Dock 

Datum 



250 

200 

156 

52 

147 

70 

36 

60 



Total. 



BIRKENHEAD DOCKS. 

Wallasey Pool Western Float 

Ditto Eastern Ditto 

Ditto Passage 

Do. Basin, ilear Canada Works.W. 

Ditto, Ditto East 

Ditto, Railway Company's Basin 
Egerton Dock . . . .West Passage 

Morpeth Dock West Passage 

East Entrance 

Total Water Area & Quay Space 
of the Birkenhead Docks . . 

Total Water Area & Space of the 
Liverpool Docks and Basins 

Total 



100 
50 
50 

70 
70 
50 



Ft. In. 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

5 

'6 *9 



5 6 
5 
5 



Coping at 
Hollow Water 
Quoins Area. 

above Sill. 



Ft. In. 
32 



Acr. Yd. 
6 2019 
1 3151 



7 3896 
3 3542 



Quay 
Space. 



Mile.Yd 
784 
454 

815 

875 
445 



10 1564 | 1214 

8 26 ' 1053 

12 3010 j 1086 

1 3388 491 



1 469 
3740 



212 2240 



6 4528 
6 £04 
4 1549 
1805 
3 1852 
1344 
2568 
2927 
3917 



23 3034 
212 2240 



235 4274 



52 319 

59 3786 

1 2554 
1 84 
C06 
3 4011 
3 1189 



121 2869 
235 4274 



357 2303 



393 
315 



15 132 



546 
702 
509 
188 
455 
160 
288 
205 



1 1600 
15 132 



16 1732 



2 210 

1 1506 

543 
390 
113 
754 

790 



5 786 
16 1732 



118 



GRAVING DOCKS. 



Width 

of 
Entr'ce, 



Sill under 

Old Dock 

Datum. 



Coping at 
Hollow 
Quoins 

above Sill 



Length 



Total 



of Length 



Bottom. 



Bottom 



500-feet Lock and Graving Dock. . 
Huskisson Lock and Graving Dk 
SandonGravingDks.,No. 1— East 
No. 2 „ 
No. 3 f, 
No. 4 „ 
No. 5 

No. 6— West 
Clarence Graving Docks. . 

No. 1— Outer Gates.. 
No. 1 — Inner Gates.. 
No. 2— Outer Gates.. 
No. 2— Inner Gates.. 



Canning Graving Docks No. 1 



No. 2 

Queen's Graving Docks. . . .No. 1 
No 2 

Brunswick Graving Docks.. No. 1 
No. 2 



Total measure at the bottom 



Ft. In. 

100 

80 

60 

70 

60 

70 

45 

45 



Ft. 
7 



45 
45 
45 
32 10 



35 9 



So 



42 
70 1 



42 
42 



3 6 

3 6 

3 6 

3 6 

3 
6 
3 

6 
Sill*above 
Old Dock 

Datum 

1 8J 
Sill under 
Old Dock 

Datum 

0£ 

1 8i 
1 8| 



Ft. 
35 
44 
29 
29 
29 
29 



In. 



21 6J 



23 4 

29 4| 
29 4 



Lineal yd. 



180 
180 
180 
180 
180 
180 



135 
97 

138 
96 



147 



146 
145 



133 
133 



Lin. yd. 
167^ 
132 



1080 



307 
291 



2709 



DUKE OF BRIDGE- 
WATER'S DOCK. 


Width of 
Entrance. 


Level of Sill. 


Level of 

Coping above 

Sill. 


Water 
Area. 


Abv. Datum 


Blw. Datum 


Outer Gates 

Middle Gates 

Inner Gates «» 

CORPORATION 
DOCKS. 

River CraftDock, Lock, 


Ft. \n. 
40 
28 10 
40 


Feet Inch. 

'6 e' 


Feet Inch, 
4 6 

'6 


Feet Inch. 

30 ) 
22 3 [ 

31 J 


Ac. Yd.! 
2 1336 

1 3416 


Outer Gates 

Inner Gates 


30 
30 


6 3 
1 3 




25 1 [ 
24 7 J 



J 









